According to a Tokyo-based Sony spokesman, the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services may not get a full reboot until May 31st.
Shigenori Yoshida told Bloomberg that Sony is currently uncertain when they can begin to restore services. He says that a rough plan to restart the services fully by May 31st “remains unchanged.”
So what will come back on before then remains the biggest question.
Last week, Sony announced that they would try to restore “some services” within a few days, but that time has come and gone and the PSN is still down. As part of what they called the “initial phase” of rolling out restored services, they said that they planned to have online play on the PS3 and PSP, chat, and PlayStation Home up and running.
As we begin the new week, these services have yet to be restored.
The latest message on the official PlayStation blog states that internal testing is still going on, and that the systems can’t go back online until Sony can 100% assure the security of their users’ information:
As you may know, we’ve begun the process of restoring the service through internal testing of the new system. We’re still working to confirm the security of the network infrastructure, as well as working with a variety of outside entities to confirm with them of the security of the system. Verifying the system security is vital for the process of restoration. Additional comprehensive system checks and testing are still required, and we must complete that process before bringing the systems online.
As you’ve heard us say, our utmost priorities are the security of the network and ensuring your data is safe. We won’t restore the services until we can test the system’s strength in these respects.
In the weeks that this saga has been playing out, Sony has upset most everyone involved with their handling of the situation. It took the company over a week to notify users that their personal information had been compromised. Customers have also expressed that they feel a lack of general concern from Sony. Last week, the company announced that it would be giving out a gift bundle to loyal users that includes free downloadable content, 30 free days of PlayStation Plus and music unlimited to Qriocity subscribers.
But if some people’s services are down for over a month, these gestures of good will may not suffice.
Last week, it was reported that hackers were planning another weekend attack of the PlayStation servers. Information of that actually happening has yet to surface. Last week, Sony implicated Anonymous in the original April attacks that prompted the initial shutdown. The hactivist group has denied involvement.
When Yoshida says that Sony still “plans to restart the services fully” on May 31st, it most likely doesn’t mean that all users’ online capabilities will be down until the end of this month. Sony continues to say that they will restore “some services” (WoW Gold Guide) as soon as possible. It looks like PS3 owners will just have to hope that “some services” are in fact restored before the end of the month and that they include PSN online gaming capabilities.