PSN hit by more service trouble

PlayStation owners are once again today experiencing trouble accessing PSN.

We’re aware that some players are seeing drops on PSN,” the official PlayStation Twitter feed said. Engineers are on the case and investigating.”

Both PSN and Xbox Live were rocked by a prolonged stint of downtime over Christmas, leading to Sony to offer some free subscription extensions and store discounts. There’s no word yet on the reason for the current problems.

The group behind PSN’s Christmas attack has subsequently said it would not disrupt the service again, with VentureBeat claiming that the decision was made after controversial Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom offered all members of the hacking group responsible free lifetime membership to his new Mega service.

However, the site reports that the same group has also launched a DDoS service that allows anyone to rent the power to bring down online networks for as little as $6 a month.

All of which means that all major gaming network providers must as a matter of priority develop means to protect their services from such attacks. Both PSN and Xbox Live are integral parts of the PlayStation and Xbox offer.

Not only does downtime infuriate paying subscribers but prolonged incidents of the likes seen over Christmas – coupled with a spate of technically troubled games hitting the market in Q4 last year – could potentially have a crippling effect on the long-term health of the console market.

We're aware that some players are seeing drops on PSN. Engineers are on the case and investigating.

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) January 7, 2015