Sony assures gamers it is ‘working hard’ to recover as network outage continues
Sony has acknowledged it has been “affected” by disruptions to its online gaming network, assuring disgruntled gamers that the disruption is “temporary” and not caused by their console.
The electronics company stopped short of naming the source of the incident, which has been claimed by hacker group Lizard King. However, the admission an external issue has affected it forms the crux of Sony's first coordinated response since the attacks happened on Christmas Day.
In a statement Catherine Jensen, vice president of SCEA Consumer Experience, said: “The video game industry has been experiencing high levels of traffic designed to disrupt connectivity and online gameplay, Multiple networks, including PSN, have been affected over the last 48 hours. PSN engineers are working hard to restore full network access and online gameplay as quickly as possible.
“From time to time there may be disruptions in service due to surges in traffic, but our engineers will be working to restore service as quickly as possible.”
Sony has declined to apologise for the security breach to date, choosing to instead build its PR around its efforts to restore the network.
The response was launched just hours after Sony declared yesterday that it had recovered from the attack. It tweeted: “Update: PS4, PS3 and Vita network services are gradually coming back online – thanks for your patience”.
Despite the claim, the network continued to be plagued by connectivity issues, which has left gamers unable to sign into services and access online games since the attack happened.
Sony rival Microsoft was also affected by the same hack with Xbox One gamers prevented from accessing online content over the festive period. Despite both being affected, it is Sony’s brand that is likely to suffer more of the two.
The brand has become caught up in an international row between the US and North Korea around its controversial film The Interview. The film has emerged one of the top stories over the festive period and seen Sony Pictures reverse its decision to pull the film’s release after the country threatened action alongside hackers.