Sony is planning something big for its PlayStation 4 (PS4) player base, as next year will see an exciting new feature arriving on the said home console.

PS4 Owners will now be able to change their name on the PS Network (PSN) in 2018. PSN is the proprietary digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation consoles. This feature has been demanded by fans numerous times over the years and will only be implemented now.

This new user feature for the PSN users has been confirmed by Sony Interactive Entertainment America executive Shawn Layden in an interview with Kinda Funny's Greg Miller. Layden even joked that it was somewhat of a Christmas present for players since the timing was coincidental.

"The elves at the North Pole have been working on it. Let me put it this way: I hope we'll see events occur so that you don't have to ask me that question next PSX," said Layden. He also explained that enabling the said feature is actually a lot more complex than some people think, which is why it took them quite a long time to find a solution for it, let alone implement the feature.

Despite Layden's excitement, he did not specify what the new and coveted feature will involve, so whether it will be a one-time free name change or a permanently free feature remains to be seen. There is also a possibility that successive name-changes after the first ones will cost players, and the likelihood that it will be free and unlimited may be remote since Sony also did not detail how they plan to handle duplicate names.

Layden's statement also seemingly contradicted with the words of Japanese executive of Sony, Shuhei Yoshida, back in 2015. Back then, Yoshida stated that while their engineers are working on the idea, they do not know when it will become a reality or if it will ever be a possibility. Rest assured, PS owners have something good to look forward to next year. Right now though, there are no dates yet.