It started as a simple Network failure on a Wednesday night, but before Sony knew it they were facing the biggest crisis that their PlayStation brand has ever come up against. It's been a week now since the electronics giant admitted that the personal information of some 77 million PlayStation Network accounts had been stolen, and people still aren't happy. Let's step back in time by just a few weeks to see how everything span out of control.
Gamers found themselves unable to log into PSN on the night of Wednesday April 20 2011. It wasn't much to think of at the time; these things aren't uncommon with the service, and it would likely be up and running again in an hour or two.
But it didn't come back up, and it wasn't until some time into Thursday 21 that Sony admitted the Network was down. Surely given a full day the PSN would return at full strength? The company waited until Friday to announce that it would be a full day or two before online functionality was restored. That meant gamers were going to have to put multiplayer games on the bench for the prolonged Easter holiday weekend. A shame, but these things happen.
Monday soon reared its head, but PSN still wasn't back. Now people were starting to get worried; reports of hacks were coming in, fueled by the recent legal battle Sony has had with third party hackers. To this point, Sony had only been supplying gamers with vague messages about the outage via its own PlayStation Blog, meaning gamers were getting impatient.
By Tuesday April 26 people were convinced that a hack had taken place, and PSN information had been stolen. When Sony finally came back with a full announcement later on in the day, they were only confirming the worst; 77 million PSN accounts hacked. While credit card details were likely untouched, the names and addresses of every account on there were now in the hands of others. Sony tried to reassure users, saying that they were working with authorities to bring hackers to justice, but it was of little use. How could hackers break into PSN? Why did Sony take so long to tell us? When you PSN be back up?
Stocks took a tumble, fans cried in outrage; it all seemed to be blowing up for the Japanese company. All they could do was say they were "hoping" to get "some" PSN services back online by May 3.
It was a tight-lipped week from then on. Arguments about encryption, security, and if credit card details were really stolen all swarmed around the internet while mainstream media caught wind of the situation. Had Sony become the laughing stock of the gaming industry in just one week?
They tried to convince us otherwise with a press conference in Tokyo last Monday. Deputy President Kazuo Hirai apologized to fans around the world for the disappointment, going as far as to bow in silence for seven seconds. He also promised that a 'Welcome Back' program would grant gamers access to free titles once PSN was back, and it would be complete with added security.
Which brings us up to speed. PSN remains shut as of right now, and the future of the entire PlayStation brand has been cast in doubt. The next few days and weeks will cast a close eye on Sony as they rebuild consumer trust. The question is, can they win it back in time for new systems to thrive?
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