Few could forget the infamous PlayStation Network hack. It was a time of sorrow, solitary gaming, and some serious FUD from major publications. And it’s a story that’s still running to this very day, as Sony has just agreed to settle a $15 million class action lawsuit – which could net you a free game if you were affected by the outage.
According to a legal document, you’ll be able to pick from a selection of old PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Portable titles, including Dead Nation, inFAMOUS, Super Stardust HD, and Rain. There’ll be a total of eight PS3 and six PSP titles to pick from, all of which will be of a comparable quality. Moreover, if you’re in the US and not already a PlayStation Plus subscriber, you’ll be able to opt for three months of free service instead.
That is, of course, if the settlement gets approved by a judge. A decision will need to be made by, er, 1st May 2015, with appeals likely to hold up proceedings even longer. As our friends over at Eurogamer.net point out, that isn’t going to make those free digital downloads look any more appealing, is it?
There’ll be a letter published in various gaming publications and on websites alerting gamers to the spoils, and you’ll need to actually respond if you want to take advantage of them. We don’t know about you, but we haven’t got the energy to fill out a form in order to grab a free copy of Patapon 3 – but hey, we certainly won’t judge anyone that does. More fascinating to us is that over three years after the event, people are still actively banging on about the PSN being down for a few weeks.
[source polygon.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 18
People still going on about this? Jeez I had made the choice to not put any of my cards on my account, so I wasn't too bothered when it happened and the digital copies of Infamous & Wipeout HD Fury with a month of PS+ seemed fair enough for me at the the time. Didn't they even take out some kind of insurance package for people who may have had their card accounts compromised? I dont understand why Sony should have to give more
Lawsuits in America are NOTORIOUS for taking years (even decades) to resolve. Long, expensive, and drawn out litigation processes that almost always result in a settlement anyways. I'm not bashing the system thought, just a brief reason why we're still seeing this pop up from time to time.
@MadchesterManc Yeah, they offered 'free' identity theft protection for a year I believe. I still get the "all clear" emails from that agency though haha.
@NathanUC I don't know how anyone can be bothered to be honest. Like, I get it, if you've been seriously wronged in some way. But as @MadchesterManc says, this was resolved years ago. Three years legal battling for a copy of ModNation Racers...
@get2sammyb It's likely a law firm or aspiring lawyers trying to get their names on a big case. I highly doubt the 'public' cares about it anymore. In the end, that $15 million settlement means a lot to at least a couple people.. probably the same couple of people drawing this out.
I'm a bit shocked that Sony even allowed for a class action suit to hit the courts to begin with. Most major brands force individuals to agree to alternative dispute resolution according to their terms of service.
I'm surprised to hear that this is still a thing. I thought it was all settled because Sony already doled out the free digital games. That's how I got Super Stardust HD. Or was the "Welcome Back" program something completely different yet related?
Anyway we are dealing with big business here. The big business of "law". You know how many starving lawyers etc. out there need bread on the table?
In all seriousness it's silly, but do we really want all those out of work lawyers running the streets?
Now, I ordered some hot cocoa, and spilled it...where is my lawsuit!?
It's crazy this is still going on....I wasn't really affected by it and I enjoyed my free copies of Infamous, Dead Nation and Wipeout. I'm sure some people were seriously effected by it, I've been hit by fraud before when some quality member of society tried to empty my bank account in £500 chunks...but I doubt an old ps3 is going to make much difference to anyone who suffered from the Playstation network breach.
Sony deserved all the stick it got and continues to get. It was negligence of the first order. I would never give Sony my credit card details now. It shows the lack of real trust in Sony when the network goes down for unplanned maintenance everyone thinks 'uh oh!'.
Yeah, but when is the lawsuit for pulling Other OS?
I'm glad psn got hacked because if they didn't I would never of played infamous and get hooked on the game
Did Sony not offer a few free games when this all happened anyway
It's times like this I just look at America and shake my head. This is something that should not have gone to court.
Didnt this already happen several years ago. I remember getting Dead Nation, Infamous, and Wipeout HD for free already. Also got LBP PSP and Pursuit Force. I'm confused.
@voodoo341 Please tell me you did not make this account to bash Sony, because it seems in your other posts that does anything but critisizing them just because YOU THINK they are doing bad... There are quite a few people who like to get on Sony's bad side these days...
@Deadstanley how can you complain about people not trusting Sony when you're not willing to give Sony your own credit card details? Clearly, like many others you don't believe the lax security has tightened up.
i remember it happened around 420, and the stoners were really angry
I find it a little troubling that there's some major blind fanboyism going on here. The purpose more than getting free games is to hold the company accountable. Why hold them accountable? So that there's a precedent for other companies consider when they chose to do a lax security system for their customers private information.
I don't even want a game out of it, I want peace of mind. But none of you "experts" know what it's like to have your private information compromised most likely. It's not fun and very time consuming
I like free games.
I think Sony owes me a free game.
Sony deserves to be sued and forced to give me free games.
Did I mention that I like free games?
@Deadstanley say whatever you want. You attacked people who don't trust Sony and were unwilling to hand over credit card details while some 3 years after the hack you've not registered a credit card yourself. Spin it what ever way you want but it's a case of pot.kettle.black.
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