As many people know PSN is down and it has been since Wednesday night. Sony has said very little to it's customers as to the status of PSN. As of the time of me writing this in the time that it has been down all we know is there was a external attack and so Sony had to shut off its servers. We also know that Sony is now building up their servers to be stronger. That is all, we don't know if personal information has been taken or even an ETA on when PSN will be back up for people to enjoy.  First off let me start by saying this blog is not about if Sony has to legally give something for the PSN downtime. For what its worth Sony does not owe anyone anything for the downtime it is a free service. However at the very least I think they owe PS + members extra time to download the items they have yet to download before they get taken down. However I want to talk about if Sony as a company SHOULD give something to their customers for the inconvenience of the downtime.

Certainly for many people the timing of this event was terrible. Not only was it over Easter weekend (when many people were probably home) but it happened same week as games like Socom 4, Mortal Kombat and Portal 2 came out. That sucks for anyone who wanted to play those games online especially over the weekend. So would another company give something to its customers if something like this happened where you were unable to use the service for several days? You bet! Any company that actually cares about their customers would do something for them for the inconvenience yes it was not Sony's fault this happened but its still up to them to make things right in the eyes of their customers. If they want to continue to have a good trusted name in the video game industry they should offer something for what happened. It is just good business and that's what it really comes down to. I don't know what they should give away but a free theme would not be enough. I think their customers should have a choice between a PSN game, DLC or movie rental to show the community of gamers that Sony cares about them and they care what happened. Not to mention if people's personal information was stolen they are going to have a bigger problem on their hands and will probably have to pay for identity theft protection for those accounts, once again if they want to keep people's trust and show the community they care they will do this.

This is just what I think Sony should do. If they don't do something I think it will leave a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths and possibly lost trust. Sony has to do some rebuilding here they are not invincible and even if it was not their fault they need to show that they can make up for lost time. It is also notable that when Xbox Live went down Microsoft offered a free game to it's customers. Now Xbox Live is different from PSN in that you have to pay for it but still people are going to make the comparisons anyways. Also during that whole thing Microsoft was much much much better at letting everyone know what was going on. Unlike Sony who might want to get a new PR department because they have done a really piss poor job at showing any kind of support to their community/customers while this whole thing is going on.

I agree with you an many points. Free or not, PSN is a service that Sony offers to PS3 owners and it's an important part of the package for many people. While I don't feel that I'm owed anything I do feel Sony should, like you said, make a gesture that says "we know things are screwed up and we do care. sorry!" I have no idea what that gesture should be, but free stuff is always nice.

PS+ subscribers need to be compensated.

I would imagine that PSN+ members will get their subscriptions extended as compensation.  As for regular PSN users I don't think the only compensation is "here's a mandatory patch update" courtesy of sony =p 

yes i believe they should be compensated one way or another.  ive been playing assassins creed 2 lately so it hasnt been bothering me much

Yes, at least the PSN+ subscribers should get something.

PS+ suscribers should get the exact same amount of free days of membership that PSN is down, the way Whiskey Media will compensate suscribers for the Skynet-Amazon incident. If you bought MK or Portal 2 to play online, a huge flow of people will start playing those games when they get the service up and running again, because most of them haven't tried the online yet! so it's not the case when a game multiplayer dies because it's not popular anymore

I agree, its not the case of legality and how they dont need to give us anything for the downtime, but the end of the day, Sony is a business, and a business needs good customer service. it should be out of goodwill Sony at least apologie and give PS plus members get their subscription extended, and as you say, a free theme....its not about the gift itself but more of the gesture

Asking for compensation is pretty outrageous. PS+ subscribers, though, should have their subscriptions extended (like others are saying) by the number of days that PSN was down. 

" Asking for compensation is pretty outrageous. PS+ subscribers, though, should have their subscriptions extended (like others are saying) by the number of days that PSN was down."

At the very least, PS Plus and DC Universe Online subscribers should receive some form of compensation, as these are paid services.

Agree that PS+ subscribers definitely need to be compensated for time lost. As for everyone else...you get what you pay for. Its a free service that Sony gives you so as much of a pain in the ass it is there's not real basis for compensation. If you dont pay for somthing then they dont owe you anything.

Only for the paid services.

I can barely remember what the PSN was now its been so long. at this rate the PS4 will be out before its back!!!

But in all seriousness as a psn plus member I would expect to be reimbured the lost days onto my account and a free psone classic game/theme/£5 free credit or something would be a nice gesture from Sony after this.

EDIT: I seem to remember the Microsoft gave Live users a free online game when their sevice went down back in 2007.

I'm a Plus subscriber and I don't need any compensation. Shit happens, I'd rather they take the time to fix the problem.

"  I paid for this "free online" service. "

I think they should prolong the PS+ subscription, and additionally give all the users either a free game or some PS Store money.

That would be nice, It really ruined my weekend. Not that I can't live without the psn but I had 4 days off and my girlfriend went hiking with her friends. It was raining all weekend and I was sick. If there is ever a perfect time to play ps3 it was last weekend. But instead I spent the weekend checking every 2 hours if it was back online..... Cheers SONY

I think PS+ plus subscribers should get an extra few days slapped on their account to make up for it, but other than that, no. 

Only to the PSN+ who actually pay for online services.

It would be nice if everyone got compensated but PSN+ subscribers need to be compensated and I would hope it's more than just a week more of extended service.   

Back in 2008, when XBL service was interrupted, Microsoft gave everyone a free XBLA game (I forget which one).  Sony should do the same, but I doubt they will. 

"

PS+ members should get something, everyone else should appreciate that it's a free service and things like this happen from time to time. Basically exactly what Whiskey have done through their sites going down, delay premium membership's payment by x days and apologize. 

I think it depends on what they find. If it's just a service interruption, PS+ subscribers should probably get some time added onto their membership and a game. Non-payers should still get something since free online was a selling point Sony used to market their system.

Now if we're talking my personal information has been compromised and someone has my name, address, and credit card info. Yes, yes I want compensation that goes beyond any type service I can receive on the Playstation. I'm talking free credit monitoring for a year with a 3rd party service at Sony's expense.

Saying PSN is a free service is nonsense. That is just the way Sony have chosen to word it. They could have said "Buy PSN access for £350 and we will give you a free PS3." and it would have amounted to the same thing. Except this way round when PSN went down people would be asking for compensation but if their PS3 bricked they would think, "oh that was free so I can't complain." Rubbish.

That's the beauty of a free service. It can run poorly whenever it wants, go down whenever it wants and there is apparently no responsibility to it's users purely based on the "but it's free" argument.

I guess they don't owe anyone anything but it would be a nice gesture and good PR to give users something (even a shitty game like Undertow).

" Only for the paid services. "

As a PS+ user, I don't think it's necessary for me to get something back for 1 week lost time. I saved plenty of money with PS+ already and I still have 13 more months to go. Although I wouldn't hate the idea of getting an extra 3 months free :)

PS+ users should get compensation, as for the people who just use the service for free no. Sony could take the service down next year if they wished, they don't have to keep it running at expense.

When Sony wiped my memory card with their 2004 Holiday Preview Disc they gave me a free Greatest Hits PS2 title.  That was awesome of them.  This time though I am not really expecting anything from them except for maybe a free month of PS+.  I wouldn't be surprised if they gave everyone a free month, it probably would not cost them much.  People would get some free games for a month and then after the free trial they could either subcribe or just call it a day.  Sony might actually end up with more subscribers by doing that.

PS+ subscribers should get something. I really can't complain about something I'm not paying for. Well, I can and I am, but I'm certainly not going to demand any form of compensation for it.

No one should get anything except the PS+ subscribers should get their service extended for the time lost.