Hey, Sony: Give gamers straight answers if you want our business
In the past week and a half we've seen Sony's sudden decapitation of its gaming network and streaming media services and the unsettling news that hackers have PSN account personal information and, possibly, credit card information.
Can Sony recover from this debacle and still get gamers to trust them? The longer Sony prevaricates, the worse the damage.
Class action lawsuits are already rolling in - like sharks in blood-soaked waters, lawyers know opportunity when they smell it. And equally as predictable, politicians have targeted Sony for inquiries as the public seeks answers they're not getting.
To Sony's credit, the company continues to post information through its corporate blog. The quality of that information leaves much to be desired.
For now, anyway, Sony is drilling into minute details for PlayStation Network users like whether trophies will be restored, but still has failed to provide a complete response to the issue of stolen credit numbers.
It's been patently obvious from prior communications that Sony either genuinely doesn't know or doesn't want to publicly acknowledge that numbers have been stolen. Either way, it's an incredibly unsettling revelation for the 77 million users of the PlayStation Network.
Some reports suggest that massive volumes of stolen credit numbers are up for sale, while another report says that credit card issuers including Wells Fargo and American Express have seen no unusual activity.
Writing for Industry Gamers, James Brightman says that Sony's senior executive staff needs to get out in front of this problem in a much more public way than they have been, and I agree wholeheartedly.
Best intentions of Sony in this case mean nothing. Stop spinning, Sony, and give us a straight answer on what happened to our data. Otherwise this failure will hang around Sony's neck like an anchor, and make the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live that much more appealing to gamers looking for a secure and reliable playground.
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