RIP?

Rumours doing the rounds on popular gaming forum NeoGAF suggest that Sony is on the verge of renaming the PlayStation Network to the much less palatable Sony Entertainment Network (or SEN).

A number of posters claim to have received the following email from Sony, which we’ll reproduce in full below:

On February 8, 2012, your “PlayStation®Network account” will be renamed a [b]“Sony Entertainment Network account” or a “SEN account” in conjunction with Sony Computer Entertainment’s PlayStation®3 system software and PlayStation®Vita system software updates. (Note, this change will not be applied to the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system at this time.)

For general purposes, this account change is a change in name only. Your username or password will not change, nor are we asking you to change them. In accordance with this transition, some necessary naming changes will be made to the TOS and Privacy Policy.

This transition is based on Sony’s goal to enhance its unique digital entertainment offering. As a series of these activities Sony started last September, PlayStation®Network will be aligned with “Sony Entertainment Network.” This helps us get closer to our goal of establishing a global comprehensive network platform of services across games, movies, music and more, all accessible from one convenient account.

It’s been clear that Sony’s wanted to unite all of its networked services under a single umbrella for a while, but we’re not sure we’re so hot on this brand change. The PSN moniker has become synonymous with various facets of the PlayStation experience. To change it at this stage would just incur confusion.

Also, SEN is an awful acronym.

[source thesixthaxis.com]