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Blame all around, I say! I do think upset gamers should be a little less angry with Sony, though. The company has already paid dearly for its security oversights.
The recent shutdown of the PlayStation Network has evolved into one of the biggest fiascos in gaming history, on par with Microsoft’s notorious Red Ring of Death. Microsoft initially set aside $1.1 billion to correct their mistake (and probably ended up spending much more), but this recent disaster has some experts estimating that Sony will spend up to $24 billion. That’s going to be a hard number for them to swallow.
While the situation is going to cost Sony in a big way, the real victims are the more than 70 million gamers who have had their personal information compromised and gone without online service for over two weeks now. In the period following the initial shutdown, PlayStation 3 owners haven’t been able to fully enjoy several AAA releases that feature major online components like Mortal Kombat, Portal 2, and Socom 4.
Of these titles, two are multiplatform, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony lost out to Microsoft in terms of sales because of the problems. The other thing to keep in mind is that Brink, another major multiplatform title, is releasing next week. Sony better hope that PSN is up and running again without a hitch or their fans may seek out the competition. In a recent survey, 40 percent of respondents said that they either had switched or were considering switching to Xbox 360 because of the PSN shutdown.
In the days following Sony’s decision to shut down their servers, gamers, the media, lawyers, and even a member of U.S. Congress have put Sony in their crosshairs, quickly assigning blame to the electronics company for failing to protect its consumers' data. That blame has escalated to the point that several parties have filed lawsuits in an effort to punish Sony for its shortcomings. A few gamers have even demanded that they are owed some sort of restitution. While I agree that Sony does share in the blame for keeping its customers' data stored unencrypted on a dated infrastructure, I think that the public has misplaced the majority of the outrage.
In the whirlwind of press conferences, interviews, opinion pieces, and lawsuits, people seem to be forgetting that somewhere sits a person -- or persons -- who committed a crime, a cyber-attack on Sony’s servers with the intention of unlawfully obtaining the personal information of over 70 million private citizens. Regardless of what their motive -- noble or otherwise -- they have harmed members of their own community and for that, they deserve the lion’s share of the public's ire. An F.B.I. investigation is currently underway and will hopefully result in the apprehension of these criminals.
In the meantime, Sony has done its best to keep gamers informed with regular updates. The electronics giant is also launching a Welcome Back program and providing PSN users with a $1 million identity-theft insurance policy. In addition, the company has overhauled its entire system. Sony shares some portion of the blame, and it has paid -- and will continue to pay -- dearly for its mistakes.
It’s time for gamers all over the world to call for the real crooks to do the same.
