Sony says sorry for PSN Christmas hacks – cheaply

Sony has finally announced its plans to compensate PSN owners who couldn’t access their PlayStation’s online services over Christmas. Beginning at 9am on Friday 23rd January until 9am on Monday 26th January, PSN members will be able to use a one-time discount voucher for 10% off any number of eligible items in a single shopping cart purchase in the PlayStation Store on the PS3, PS4 or online. Codes can be found on the PlayStation Store itself and via local PlayStation Twitter feeds. 

The list of eligible items extends into the “hundreds of thousands” according to Sony’s European PlayStation Blog, and will include “blockbuster new releases”, indie games, DLC and season passes as well as a whole load of films and TV shows. Some exclusions do apply, though, as the voucher can’t be used on PS Plus subscriptions, Music Unlimited subscriptions, rental video content, pre-orders or any purchases made on the PS Vita, PlayStation TV or PSP. 

PS Plus members get an added bonus as well in the form of a five-day extension of their current PS Plus membership. This will be applied automatically, so users don’t have to do anything on their part to activate the extension. Instead, you’ll simply receive an email in the next few days confirming all the details. 

The last major breach of Sony’s PSN network was in 2011 when Sony’s online services were down for almost a month. In that instance, Sony offered frustrated players a ‘Welcome Back’ package that included two free PS3 games from a list of LittleBigPlanet, Infamous, Wipeout HD, Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty and Dead Nation, as well as two free PSP games out of LittleBigPlanet PSP, ModNation PSP, Pursuit Force and Killzone Liberation.

Non PS Plus members also got a 30 day free trial of the service, while existing PS Plus subscribers were given a 60 days free subscription. Likewise, anyone using Sony’s Music Unlimited service was given a 30 days free subscription.