PS3 Root Key Released
On Jan. 12, Sony sued George Hotz (AKA "geohot") as well as "Bushing," Hector Martin Cantero, Sven Peter, and others alleged to be part of the FAIL0VERFLOW group of hackers that contributed to the release of the PlayStation 3's root key. Hotz and the others claimed that they were simply enabling the “OtherOS" functionality – i.e., the ability to install Linux or another OS onto the PS3 – to give it additional features. Sony, however, felt that would allow users to play pirated games. Gamers began taking sides. Meanwhile, Sony accidentally tweeted the root key.
Sony Takes Aim
The tide began turning against Hotz and the other hackers. On Feb. 11, Hotz was ordered to turn over hard drives. Around the same time Sony, unsurprisingly, said that PlayStation pirates would be banned for life.
George Hotz Loses the Battle, But Not the War
Tensions simmered. As the Hotz saga continued, he reportedly disappeared, allegedly fleeing the country to South America. On March 24, Hotz denied the charges on his blog, claiming it was a vacation. On April 4, the hacker group “Anonymous" began attacking Sony-branded Web sites in sympathy for Hotz. Sony settled with Hotz, but he joined the Anonymous boycott. War had been declared.
PlayStation Network Outage Begins
And then it began. On April 20, Sony posted a rather innocuous message reporting issues with the PlayStation Network. But, a day later, the company took both the PlayStation Network and its Quirocity cloud-music service down for a “day or two". Sony had the attention of the worldwide gamer market.
Anonymous Defends Itself
On April 23, Anonymous rushed to defend itself, claiming it didn’t do it, provoking angry derision from many. But Anonymous stuck by its story, if “its" can be applied to the loose collection of hackers. Did you buy their story?
Credit Cards Stolen?
But on April 26 gamers woke to a sharp cold feeling of dread: the hack had nabbed personal information, and maybe credit-card information. On April 27, Sony was sued, as customer protests turned into cries of “What about us?"
Sony Freebies Appear
To its credit, Sony got it. On April 29, Sony began pledging “make good" compensation for the outage, eventually matching what we thought Sony owed us for the outage. The freebies included PlayStation Plus credits and other downloadable content.
Sony Online Entertainment Hacked, Too
What consumers didn’t know then, however, was that Sony Online Entertainment, the home of Sony’s MMO games, had also been hacked, the company revealed on May 2. On May 5, SOE offered its own freebies, after admitting that non-U.S. credit-card information had been taken in the hack.
Sony Apologizes
Finally, Sony executives apologized. On May 6, chairman, president, and chief executive Howard Stringer apologized, following the May 1 where Kazuo Hirai, the frontrunner to take over the top job at Sony, bowed deeply in apology.
Sunrise, or Sunset?
So what happens now?
Sony appears to closing in on what it thinks will be a stable, secured PlayStation Network. We predicted before that it might be until early May before Sony's network returns, and that certainly has been the case. Now, however, it seems reasonable that Sony is in the testing stages.
Based purely on speculation, we'd say it's reasonable that at least some portion of the network return to operation on Monday. Here's why: since a large percentage of PlayStation gamers need to work to support their habit, Monday facilitates a low-volume rollout that can be stress-tested as students and workers sign on later in the day. It's also possible that Sony could turn on its Qriocity music service beforehand.
Now, is Sony's star rising, or setting?
This is clearly a black eye for the company, and one that Microsoft (to its credit?) hasn't exploited with its Xbox Live service. (If this had been Apple, it might have been another story.)
Will there be any immediate impact? Sure. Grumbling, jokes, Photoshopping of the previous photo of the Sony execs bowing in apology. But Sony console owners are console owners, and unless they want to spend an extra $200 or so shifting platforms, they'll swallow their bile and take it out on someone online.
Over time, however, Sony's outage will certainly weigh on the minds of those committing to new or replacement consoles. If Sony really wants to capture the hearts and minds of its users, it might take a page from another Japanese company, Toyota, which now offers complimentary maintenance after several embarassing recalls. How does that translate into video-game terms? Not easily. Sony's online service is already free, and making an ID protection service complementary with a purchase of a new console is just bad PR.
Our bet? Bow, shrug, humbly offer freebies, and hope gamers simply forget about it. What else can Sony do?
