According to Eurogamer, the PlayStation store is currently suspended in mainland China as of May 10. With no advance notice of going offline, it is unsure how long the service will be unavailable.
According to the official Chinese PlayStation Weibo account, the service was taken down to undergo a security update.
"The PlayStation Store (PSN) has been temporarily suspended in Mainland China from 7am on May 10. No time or date given for resumption of services," Daniel Ahmad, a senior analyst at Niko Partner, tweeted. "The official reason given is to carry out security upgrades. But it is unclear what this means exactly."
Ahmad said he posted about the suspension because of a rumored report to authorities about possible back door elements that could allow users to switch to overseas services. The store was taken down soon after.
When questioned if this was a way to search the store for games deemed inappropriate by Chinese policies, Ahmad said, "The China store only has officially approved games. If anything it's to investigate possible back doors for overseas PSN services."
With games set to release later this year that could go against China's guidelines, getting access to other countries' marketplaces is most likely a common tactic. An example would be The Last of Us Part II, set to be released on June 19, which Ahmad said won't even be attempted to release in China. With such a popular release limited, the only way to access it would be through these back doors and through foreign marketplaces.
With no notification of when the PlayStation store will be back online in China, it will be interesting to see the progression and how it affects its customers.