It’s been five years since hackers thoroughly compromised the PlayStation Network, Sony Online Entertainment, and Qriocity. But Sony’s just getting around to compensating some people who were affected by that breach.
All totaled, more than 70 million customers were impacted by the attack. Inevitably, of course, a class action lawsuit was filed against the company and Sony (SNE) settled that case out of court. A fair bit of paperwork was involved to receive a piece of that settlement, but the people who braved that are now reportedly finally getting the game vouchers due to them.
There’s one problem: At this point, they may not want them. Sony’s offering people a selection of one or two games (depending on whether they took advantage of the “Welcome Back” promotion the company launched when PlayStation Network went back online). The choices include titles inFamous, LittleBigPlanet, and G od of War HD Collection.
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They’re all great games, but they’re also games that only play in the PlayStation 3 of PS Vita and PSP handheld systems. And none of those systems is actively supported these days as Sony’s gaming division is primarily focused on the PlayStation 4.
(People receiving a settlement can also opt for account credits or free months on their PlayStation Network subscription, which are a bit more useful for most gamers today.)
Sony’s gaming focus isn’t the only thing that has changed since that 2011 hack. In the years since the attack (which took the PlayStation Network offline for 23 days), one of the three affected units (SOE) has been sold and another (Qriocity) has been absorbed into another division.
And while that hacking incident remains one of the largest in history, subsequent security incidents, including the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures, have largely superseded the PlayStation incident in people’s minds.