After hackers stole the personal information of more than 24 million Sony Online Entertainment users, and put at risk more than 20,000 credit card and bank account numbers, Sony Online is offering compensation in free game time to make up for the substantial inconvenience.
According to a statement released on its website Thursday, Sony Online will add on 30 days of free game time to affected users’ billing cycles. Even further, Sony users will be granted a free day of service for each additional day the system is offline since it got taken down in the beginning of the month.
“We thank you for your patience as we continue to work around the clock to restore our game services,” the San Diego, Calif.-based Sony Online Entertainment said in a statement. “We know this has been a frustrating time for you and appreciate your understanding as we work to confirm the security of our network.”
Perhaps an incentive to keep using the service, and as a way to prevent identify theft in the future, Sony Online Entertainment subscribers are also eligible for identity theft protection services that have already been granted to Playstation Network users following its own recent data breach. After the service went down at the end of April, Sony officials later discovered that hackers had attacked the service and put at risk the personal and credit card information of more than 70 million accounts.
While it may not fully make up for the troubles and downtime experienced by subscribers, a handful of in-game items and special events are also being made available to Sony Online Entertainment users as they return to the gaming world. Some of these include DC Universe Online, Clone Wars Adventures, Star Wars Galaxies, and PoxNora.
Meanwhile, Playstation Network will remain offline for a few more days until service is restored, according to company officials.
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Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet web editor. She covers a wide range of topics, including IP communications and information technology. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
