Five days and counting: Sony's PlayStation Network outage continues

Apologize early and often. Sony has learned that much as it communicates with 70 million registered users about why their beloved PlayStation Network isn’t working. As the outage enters its fifth day, the Japanese company has to start thinking about how to compensate its users to get them to come back.

Coinciding with the crash of Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud web services, the Sony outage will have users questioning how much they should rely on Sony’s cloud-based technology for storing their critical game data. Once it solves the problem and brings the system back up, it will need to entice users with special offers. Otherwise, those users are going to be timid about coming back.

So far, Sony is doing a decent job communicating in the right tone. In a blog post this morning, Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold said, “I know you are waiting for additional information on when PlayStation Network and Qriocity services will be online. Unfortunately, I don’t have an update or timeframe to share at this point in time. As we previously noted, this is a time intensive process and we’re working to get them back online quickly. We’ll keep you updated with information as it becomes available. We once again thank you for your patience.”

The problem is that Sony hasn’t had much to say. It has acknowledged that an “external intrusion” brought down the network and that it is trying to beef up its security. Meanwhile, it has said it is still trying to determine if any user credit card information was stolen.

The timing couldn’t be worse in a couple of respects. Sony recently announced it would store user games in the internet-connected data center, or cloud. That’s a nice option, but not if you can’t actually access the cloud. Sony also was preparing the network for an update for its PlayStation Home virtual world.

There are 948 games now available in the PlayStation Network store, as well as 4,000 pieces of add-on content for games. There are also 31,000 movies and TV shows available for download, not counting the content available on Netflix, Hulu, and sports content.


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  • MB923

    So much for 1-2 days. Perhaps they meant 1-2 weeks

  • 098monster123

    well i spend alot of money on ps3 network every week for playstation home and i still have money on my account but when the system comes back up i will use all of it and clear my account from my system and sell it or maybe even destroy it because i have already bought an xbox like alot of my friends and alot of people i don't know that have already bought 0ne i have thenew mortal kombat that i can;t play online so i guess i trade it in for one for xbox and switch all my ps3 pre orders to xbox so what if i gotta pay for internet i spend more on playstation buying stuff but never again.and thanks again sony for the once every three day update.just go ahead and tell everybody it”s gonna take a month or two but nomore waiting for me i'll be on xbox

  • http://twitter.com/Rockthenight612 Connor

    Xbox? I can honestly say I have both and still would rather play ps3.Oh, and not so far back, xbl was down for a straight week too. I'd rather not be paying and have a week of it being down than paying and losing a week.

  • http://profiles.google.com/waqas2k11 fryr fdghgf

    Sony are not getting anymore of my money it shall go all on Microsoft. Be quick Sony before even more people leave your network.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WEZMG2YCJIU6K5E4OH3IEVFOVU edagr s

    Monster 123 your an idiot. Quit being such a child and deal with it. $#!t hapens,geez. Im not going to Xbox ever! There are alot more hackers, you got the ring of death,no Blu ray…, no thanx. Yeah it sux. Ive been wanting to play COD but oh well,I'll just wait. PS for life.

  • http://www.printinghost.com/ custom stickers

    I think they will take more time than they are saying here because of the network down.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QPYKJCT3BHD4IM4GWDUMRPFBC4 Sean

    go get some pussy quit whining

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QPYKJCT3BHD4IM4GWDUMRPFBC4 Sean

    and for the douche that said xbox has alot more hackers i been on xbox for a while and its almost impossible to hack xbox anymore and bout as easy as tying your shoes on ps3 so u dont kno what the fuck u talkin bout and for the red ring ring i also believe the ps3 has a similar feature known as the yellow light of death

  • black163

    this is unbelieveable, honestly. I dont know too much about the difference between Xboxs and PS3's but I will tell you this. I own a ps3 and its always a beetch to find a good video game because Xbox simply has more varity of video games, right or wrong? Im a big Madden fanatic and I cant even play my ish because the Network is down, horrible. I didnt buy the game cause I wanted to play the computer I bought it so I can play online and against my friends with this network down Im forced to hear my ladys chatter box, not cool. And then I hear talks about paying for online service with the PS3….Im really thinking about getting an Xbox and I know Im not the only one. Sony better jump on their grizzly before they lose everything and everyone of those 70 million registered users

  • abefos

    sh*t happens, and xbox has been down like this before. not that i'm bashing the 360, it's a great system, but if you were really that into multiplayer than you people would have started on the 360 and never looked back. the ps3 supports online, but unless you're playing the biggest title at the moment then it's ghost town. it was only one console ago that nobody was able to get online, as an old timey gamer i'll stay loyal to sony, go to the xbox ( i don't mean that sarcastically, it is a good system) but you'll all be back next week. i'll be enjoying the awesome MK reboot and it's 200 hours of content i don't need to be online for until psn is back up. then i'll probably get my ass handed to me by some 8 year old german kid.

  • http://twitter.com/Rockthenight612 Connor

    yellow light happens after a few years only if you leave it on 24/7. and it is as easy to hack on 360, there are alot more hacks on 360 but more hackers play on ps3 so thats why it's the main focus.

  • http://twitter.com/Rockthenight612 Connor

    yellow light happens after a few years only if you leave it on 24/7. and it is as easy to hack on 360, there are alot more hacks on 360 but more hackers play on ps3 so thats why it's the main focus.

  • http://twitter.com/Rockthenight612 Connor

    wrong. Compare the exclusives of ps3 to 360, you will surely be shocked to find that it actually has better quality games. I have a 360, it's a good system I just rather play ps3.

  • http://twitter.com/Rockthenight612 Connor

    wrong. Compare the exclusives of ps3 to 360, you will surely be shocked to find that it actually has better quality games. I have a 360, it's a good system I just rather play ps3.

  • DeezNuts714

    I don't care who has what, which one is better then the other, which is easier to hack, blue-tray or any other shit like that!!!! Bottom line is with all the money we pay for the systems, games, and add-ons Sony should have been on top of this shit long before it happened. Sony dropped the ball on this one big time and should compensate it's users.P.S. I will never pay to play on-line!!!!

  • deadthing79

    —–Unless your a PS+ user, nobody on here has a reason to b**ch. PSN is a free service. FREE! Sony is looking to give a form of compensation to all of it's registered users and yet, the vast majority of them don't even pay for the service. I bought my PS3 over 4 years ago and as far as value goes, I think I've gotten more than my money's worth from the system.—–If Sony asked it of me the moment PSN came back online, I'd gladly support them by paying a monthly subscription to their network. After the fallout from this they'll need revenue and for a good product, I'll support a company gladly. I've used an Xbox and the 360 in the past and both machines were shitty, charged me everytime I got online, even if by accident, and the controllers, IMO SUCK.—–If you ask me, people who are on here saying they are going to trade their PS3's in for XBox 360 over a week of downtime need to go outside and ride a bike or take a walk. Smell some flowers. Maybe get a hobby. You take this crap way too seriously and NEED TO GO OUTSIDE AND DO SOMETHING!!!—–I hate fair weather friends. The only time any of you should be mad is if you're checking your credit card statements and see fraudulent charges. Then you call up your Bank or Credit Card provider, get Sony on the other line, and host a threeway dance until the issue is resolved.

  • http://thedx.druckerinstitute.com/2011/04/stormy-weather/ Stormy Weather | The Drucker Exchange

    [...] time, Drucker wouldn’t have been surprised by the trouble at Amazon or a similar failure that is plaguing Sony. After all, Drucker noted, nothing, is foolproof. That’s why, he said, “you think through [...]

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