Current downtime is a “crucial step”.
Sony has confirmed the current PSN maintenance downtime is to help prepare the system for the imminent return of the PlayStation Store.
A new post from communications director Nick Caplin on the PlayStation Blog explained that the temporary outage represented a vital part of restoring the rest of PSN’s services following the massive security breach last month.
“Starting soon, the PlayStation Network will be inaccessible for several hours for maintenance,” he wrote. “The server maintenance performed at this time represents a crucial step in the full restoration for PSN, including the PlayStation Store.