Sony Giving Away Old Games in Class Action Settlement Regarding the 2011 Breach of the PlayStation Network

Almost four years after the highly publicized PlayStation Network hacking fiasco, Sony has announced plans to settle the class action suit that was brought against them by angry consumers. Unfortunately, their 'settlement' is thought to be too little/too late by many users who had their personal information stolen by hackers.

The network outage that resulted from the hack left more than 77,000,000 PSP and PS3 users vulnerable to hackers while knocking the network offline in April of 2011. Although Sony began a dubious 'Welcome Back' campaign the same year, acceptable restitution has yet to be made.

Critics Calling the Settlement an Insult

Many online reviewers, such as those at The Verge, are calling Sony's offer of cheap old games laughable, if not a downright insult. Games such as God of War HD, Little Big Planet and Infamous are being offered for free to those who meet certain criteria as established in the settlement.

However, those games were never quite the success hoped for (i.e. not big sellers) so is this really a settlement or just hype meant to passify critics? On the other hand, it is possible to get three months free on the network - again if certain conditions are met. Unfortunately for those who are current subscribers to the PlayStation Plus network, this option is not available, so you'll have to settle for the old games that nobody wants.

2011 Breach Was One of Sony's Biggest Embarrassments

For those 77+ million who were affected by the hack, it should come as no surprise that this was the company's most embarrassing moment. A moment that took the network offline for almost a full month (a very long moment indeed!) and as noted above, left users vulnerable to hackers as their personal information was accessed during the hack.

By reading comments around the web, it appears as if that 'embarrassing moment' has turned into a four year debacle, as the company only now begins to offer a simulacrum of restitution for such a major breach. One of the least favorable offerings is an assortment of free themes, but free themes are readily available outside the settlement so critics are saying, why bother?

The date tentatively set for the deadline of submitting a claim is the 31st of August, 2015. However, it is advised to review the criteria which must be met prior to submitting a claim. As well as current members being ineligible to make a claim, those who took advantage of the 'Welcome Back' campaign are also ineligible for the “compensation” being offered by Sony. Those still interested in staking a claim can get their free game, themes or 3-month service at some point after that August 31 deadline. Keep in mind that 2011 wasn't the only time the PlayStation Network has been breached - there was recently another PSN breach in December of 2014.