PlayStation Network Offline: Gamers Wait While It Tops 17 Hours
Frustration abounds around the world. Playstation gamers quickly realize Playstation Network, more simply known as PSN, remains offline for over 17 hours and counting. This late-night outage has extended deeply into morning. Players are unable to enter their online multiplayer, and in some cases, even access their digitally bought game libraries.
Sony has provided a nominal acknowledgement that the PlayStation Network is down. However, anything resembling substantial official communication has been noticeably absent. That, and the length of the downtime thus far, have led to the gaming community starting to speculate. They wonder whether the issue is bigger than a DDoS attack.
Spotty Service, Widespread Disruption
There have been reports throughout the prolonged outage of people getting back into the service with limited functionality. Some briefly connect to their accounts and browse the PlayStation Store. However, online multiplayer is down for a massive swath of titles, and it remains that way. This includes very anticipated events like the Monster Hunter Wilds open beta, which players cannot access.
Echoes of the 2011 Nightmare
The length of this PSN outage, added to the additional mystery courtesy of Sony, will no doubt bring back bad memories of 2011's infamous outage. A hacking attack caused it. It kept the PlayStation Network down for as long as 21 days. The breach in 2011 saw 77 million accounts compromised. Thieves took personal data.
This was further reiterated in the 2011 extended PlayStation Network outage. It was caused by a sophisticated cyberattack that comprised millions of user accounts. Later, Sony launched a "Welcome Back" program to compensate for those users.
Following the 2011 crisis, Sony offered compensation in the form of a "Welcome Back" program. This included one free month of PlayStation Plus membership, an extension for current members, and a selection of free games to both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable users. Many gamers today are expecting, if not hoping, that something similar will be offered this time as well. This depends on the extent of the situation and reason for the outage.
Hoping for a Swift Resolution and Clarity
The hope is that this is not the case, another highly extensive breach in security similar to the one back in 2011. All gamers are still waiting for the complete restoration of services. More importantly, they await an explanation from Sony as to why this extended outage occurred in the first place within the PlayStation Network. As hours keep ticking above the 17-hour mark, pressure increases for Sony to tackle growing concerns and get players back online.
