How to activate a primary PlayStation®4 console

How to activate a primary PlayStation®4 console

Find out how to activate your primary PS4™ system.

Activating a primary PS4 links your PlayStation system to your account and allows you to access PlayStation™ Store purchases. Depending on the content you want to access, there are different activation restrictions:

Games

1 primary PS4 

2 PS3 systems

2 portable PlayStation systems (PSP or PS Vita/TV)

 

Video

1 primary PS4 

1 PS3

3 portable PlayStation systems (PSP or PS Vita/TV)

Deactivate remotely
PS5 activation

How do I activate a PS4 system?

Each player can have one PS4 activated as the primary PS4 for their account.

  1. Go to Settings > Account Management > Activate as Your Primary PlayStation 4 > Activate.

There are no primary activations on PS3.

  1. Select your local user account and go to PlayStation Network  > Sign-in > Account Management.
  2. Go to System Activation and highlight "PS3".
  3. Select the type of content you want to activate your PlayStation 3 system to use.
  4. Select Activate System.
  5. You will see a message to confirm that your device is now activated or to let you know that you have already reached your activation limit for the content type.

There are no primary activations on PS Vita/TV.

  1. On your PS Vita system tap Settings > PlayStation Network > System Activation.
  2. Select the type of content you want your PS Vita to use - Games or Video.
  3. Tap Activate > OK.
  4. You will see a message to confirm that your device is now activated or to let you know that you have already reached your activation limit for the content type.

How do I activate a new PlayStation system?

Each account can have one primary PS4. To change a primary PS4, you must first manually deactivate the previous primary PS4.

If you have reached your activation limit for PS3 or PS Vita/TV, you can manually deactivate each system.

If you find that you cannot sign out or manually deactivate a PlayStation system, you can perform a remote deactivation of all PlayStation devices. This action can only be performed once every six months.

Remotely deactivate all PlayStation consoles

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