As the ongoing saga of the Sony PSN outage continues, critics and fans alike are still waiting to see when exactly online functionality will be restored.
Last week, Sony asserted they'd be able to restore matchmaking and other social-networking features by the end of the week. Of course, the end of the week came and went - without a return of the PSN.
Two days ago, industry reports further confused consumers when it was announced that the PSN would be "fully restored" by May 31st - leading many to believe this meant that all PSN features would be unavailable until then. Sony then clarified the report - asserting that the May 31 date is the target for when the company expects to have all services up and running - reaffirming that many features will be restored in the coming days.
Sony's original (apparently delayed) plan was to roll-out services in stages with online play as well as friends list features arriving first and PlayStation Store and other features arriving by, presumably, the May 31st target date. While it's certainly an inconvenience to not have access to DLC and other store offerings, the obvious feature that everyone wants up and running ASAP is online matchmaking - and subsequently multiplayer gaming.
According to a recent post on the PlayStation Blog, it'll at least be a few more days:
"I know you all want to know exactly when the services will be restored. At this time, I can’t give you an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more days. We’re terribly sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work through this process."
That said, it does sound as if multiplayer gaming will return with the basic services - whenever that actually occurs. Recently, MusterBuster a PlayStation Europe community manager, reassured gamers that:
"31st May is the date for FULL restoration of PSN services. Restoration is phased. Online gaming will return BEFORE May 31st."
It's not surprising to hear that Sony is aiming to bring the network back up within a few days - since that's basically been their timeline for the last (almost) three weeks. Sony has caught heat for their, at times, lack of transparency but if fans are stressed out about not being able to play online - imagine how some of the larger game companies feel.
Christian Svensson, the Corporate Officer/Senior Vice-President at Capcom, weighed in on the effects of the outage - asserting that the developer/publisher could be losing millions in potential revenue as a result of PSN downtime:
I'm frustrated and upset by it for a number of reasons.
As an executive responsible for running a business, the resulting outage obviously costing us hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in revenue that were planned for within our budget. These are funds we rely on to bring new games to market for our fans.
However, despite his frustration - and any effects the outage might have on Capcom's ability to make games, Svensson also criticized the hacker-community, specifically Anonymous, for creating problems for consumers - while pursuing a personal vendetta against Sony:
In short, the hackers appear to be trying to "punish" Sony for some perceived injustice, and they've been effective in that I suppose. But they're also punishing millions of other consumers and businesses which makes it impossible to be sympathetic to their "cause".
Anonymous, of course, continues to stand by their claim that they were not behind the attack.
Either way, the real losers continue to be everyday gamers who have no real option get back to playing with their friends, purchasing content on the PlayStation store, or eagerly anticipating the next Capcom release. Instead, the wait continues - at least for a few more days.
Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick and let us know what you miss the most about the PSN - and when you think service will finally be restored.
Sources: PlayStation Blog, Eurogamer, Capcom