PlayStation users furious as network outage compensation is PS Plus exclusive

The compensation Sony is offering for the PlayStation Network outage has garnered mixed reception from PlayStation users.

PSN services randomly shut down on Friday, February 7, then slowly started going back up the next day. After about 24 hours of downtime, PlayStation’s social media feeds announced the network had fully returned for all users.

The Ask PlayStation account on Twitter/X cited “an operational issue” as the cause for the extended network outage.

Without disclosing further details, the account also confirmed PS Plus subscribers would receive compensation in the form of an “additional 5 days of service.” For some people, the small membership extension doesn’t cut it.

PlayStation users displeased with compensation for network outage

“Just 5 days? Wtf,” reads one response to the Ask PlayStation post, and there are dozens upon dozens of other replies just like it. For many PlayStation players, five extra days of PS Plus isn’t sufficient.

Some say they’d prefer a month of access, while others think a free game would’ve done the trick. “They owe us at least one free game,” reads one such comment.

Meanwhile, non-PS Plus subscribers who were affected by the outage feel especially slighted. Wrote a fan on Reddit, “I don’t have ps plus but still couldn’t play the games I wanted to, guess I’m a f***ing second class citizen.”

A similar comment from another non-PS Plus member noted that some digital games were inaccessible because of licensing errors. “Us regular folks don’t get anything?” they asked.

Sony

However, there are those less concerned with compensation and more interested in Sony improving its communication practices and explaining what led to the PlayStation Network outage.

“Excuse me, but all of us Playstation gamers/subscribers to PSN all deserve some sort of explanation as to why the platform was down in the first place,” a Twitter/X user said, before adding that Sony’s lack of transparency will only “instill distrust” going forward.

Some Redditors shared the same sentiment, one person writing, “More interested in what exactly happened, how it happened, why there was no communication during the outage, and what’s being done to prevent it from happening again in the future.”

If and when Sony will provide additional details presently remains to be seen.