Sony's PSN Breach Settlement Offering Affected Users Free Games

Sony's PSN Breach Settlement Offering Affected Users Free Games

31
Richard Walker

Sony has commenced accepting claims as part of a class-action settlement for the PlayStation Network breach that occurred in April 2011, offering free games to those affected by the outage on PlayStation 3 and PSP.

Anyone who held a US-based PSN, Qriocity or Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) account prior to May 15th 2011 is eligible to receive something out of the settlement, but what you're given will be dictated by Sony's own criteria. This includes whether your accounts have remained inactive since the hack and whether you took advantage of the 'Welcome Back' promotion offered to users.

As for those free games you could snap up, the likes of inFamous, LittleBigPlanet, Super Stardust HD and God of War HD Collection are included, alongside other PS3 and PSP titles, as well as themes and three-month PS Plus subscriptions.

The deadline for claims is August 21st, 2015, after which time you should receive your free compensatory game.

[PSN-SOE Settlement via Polygon]

Comments
31
  • this is confusing me
  • And... for those of us in UK?
  • I'm in the UK, but have had a US account for ages, and got some of the free games on my US account from the original compensation period.....I'm assuming I can go ahead and do this?
  • I'm in the UK but my account that was affected I now no longer use, but can still log in to it. I wonder if even that would be eligible?
  • I got the email and didn't even sign up. Games are old and in all the honesty, this has been long forgotten. Hacks happen and looks like they've learned a lesson as we didn't have such a mess up since (save for DDoS attacks which are really harmless). Keep up the good work Sony, you don't owe me anything.
  • I don't care about the 2011 hack anymore. Sure, not being able to play online was an inconvenience at the time, but it hasn't happened again since, so Sony must have stepped up their security. DDOS attacks can happen to anyone from what I've been told, and are harmless in terms of the security of personal information. I'll take a pass on claiming anything from this settlement. I got a game from the Welcome Back thing, so I'm good.
  • Only in america can a company be on the receiving end of a hack/attack and give compensation and still get sued for even more by greedy people. Mostly the same people who moaned about wanting free stuff for the attack at xmas there........Bloody chancers.
  • So basically they are offering up games that have already been Plus freebies?
  • Comment #8 by diskdocx Should be lucky to even have those....should have got nothing.
  • You forgot to mention that you can also ask for 3 months of Playstation Plus and/or a wallet refund(but only if your account hasn't been used since the hack).
  • Who cares if the games are old. They are still free. If you don't want them, why even bother wasting your time commenting about it!! LOL the way some of you babies cry and waste time with comments!! LOL!!
  • @11, you're also crying about people crying...and here's another wasted post for ya! Lmao I never even grabbed the free games they offered back then, it didnt affect me as I have a life outside of gaming lol. And they are offering the same games...sooo. Lol
  • wha... how come whenever there is some kind of lawsuit brought against a company [be it legit, like the gearbox thing, or unjustified like this one] the only folks eligible are from the US? its not like the folks from the US pay more for games, and its edging me closer to saying well fuck you industry, I'm not paying for games anymore...when companies can shit on the world, then only compensate less than half of those affected now, I'm not bothered about getting anything free from this one, we had our monies worth plus some from the last bonus they gave us...but it is starting to irk me somewhat that the rest of the world gets shit on by American companies, who then weasel out of paying tax, because they say they're not based in "X" country, they're based somewhere that they don't have to pay tax.... newsflash thieving cunts, you sell shit in the UK, you're fucking based here too you fucks rant over...damn, still annoyed [mostly because trials fusion DLC out tomorrow, and I've just found out I'm busy for a few days]
  • What do you get if your accounts have been inactive since the hack ? I lost a few accounts after the hack as I could no longer get on my emails to change my passwords so I just left them, I know I could have rang up sony to sort them out but couldn't be bothered making new emails for the accounts I lost at the time.
  • @14 You can then apply to have any remaining funds in your wallet refunded to you.
  • Is Europe affected?
  • I was there during the attacks but i don't know how they plan to go about this and i just got off with Customer Service at Sony and they have no glue about any of this.
  • i have been a member on psn since 2009 and i have not gotten any emails or anything
  • @9 - Then Sony should have refused to settle the class action, and taken the matter to court. I'm not saying the suit has merit, I just don't understand the point of offering a settlement like this - ongoing subs have almost certainly played the games, and those who left don't care. It just seems pointless. Just my observation.
  • Thought about claiming the 6 months free PSN for my U.S account, but as was pointed out to me, doing so would be committing perjury as I'm not a U.S resident.
  • Must be a thing they teach in school in America... how to create a lawsuit, since it seems to be as common as breathing out there ;)
  • @17 Go to the website and it tells you exactly how to apply. You can either do it online or print out a form and mail it in.
  • @21 read up on TTIP sounds like that mentality is steamrolling it's way into Europe too
  • @21 having fun with all the muslims? Seriously thou I already got 2 free games back in 2011. Infamous and Dead Nation. I'm not sure I follow this second round of crazy from them. I'm all for handouts when you cant figure out how to handle your PR but it sure seems pointless.
  • I am kind of surprised it has taken this long. In Canada, a settlement was reached and free games were distributed almost a year ago.
  • @7: I like the part where you ignored that the reason Sony got hacked is because they had purposely bad security.
  • ....I wonder and those of us who do not live in the US, but do have a US account? what happens? will we get suspended and force to make a new account that is actually from where we live? if we fill the form?
  • @15 oh ok thanks, never had any funds in them accounts anyway as they was setup as american accounts, I always used the same english account when buying anything.
  • does anyone know what the "reward" options are available.....want to see if its worth it, as I'm a UK resident with a US account
  • what about EU? do we get anything?
  • You need to register before being able to post comments

Game navigation