14 DAY TRIAL // Sony has issued a new statement concerning the already infamous Christmas outage experienced by the PlayStation Network in December of 2014, apologizing for the problems while declining to comment on the stability comparisons made between its PSN and Microsoft's Xbox Live.
The winter holidays of 2014 were filled not just with big sales but also with plenty of PS4 and Xbox one consoles bought as gifts for loved ones. Unfortunately for all the new owners at that time, a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack perpetrated by hacker group Lizard Squad left both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live unavailable for different amounts of time.
This meant that those who wanted to play on their consoles online or download the digital titles they got as part of bundles were unable to do so, much to their disappointment.
While the Xbox Live came back online in just a few hours and only experienced a few intermittent outages in those days, the PlayStation Network was down for several days and continued to go through tough times in those weeks.
Sony apologizes for the outage
Now, while talking with Metro Game Central, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Jim Ryan explains that he doesn't know just how much or by what means the Xbox Live network was attacked, but he personally oversaw the efforts to restore the PSN as quickly as possible.
"I don’t work for Microsoft, I don’t know how the attack that they were subject to was different to our attack. All I know, again, is that our people worked around the clock to get the network back up. Now, I understand that many people unwrapped their PS4s from under the Christmas tree and were unable to get online and that is upsetting," he says.
Ryan is sorry that the outage happened but he also emphasizes that it was an organized criminal attack. He also highlights that Sony went to great lengths to reward users for their patience, through discount codes or extra PlayStation Plus membership days.
Unfortunately, the PSN continues to have problems from time to time, and despite making Sony a lot of money, it seems that the online service isn't in for any improvements in terms of stability or security.