PlayStation players without PS Plus livid over PSN outage compensation

Some affected by the PlayStation Network fiasco are not happy with Sony’s solution, or the company’s vague explanation. The recent PlayStation Network (PSN) outage may have just been a mild inconvenience for some, but it also served as a reminder of the downsides of a potential all-digital future. On Saturday, February 8, the service went down for almost 24 hours, leaving people unable to play online games like Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 which require a PS Plus subscription, along with games that don’t like Fortnite and Roblox.

This wasn’t the only issue, as it also affected the PlayStation Store and prevented some people from accessing their digital games entirely. In a statement when the servers were back online, Sony apologised and blamed the outage on a vague ‘operational issue’. Sony has attempted to appease disgruntled players by gifting PS Plus subscribers five additional days for free – but the lack of any reward for those without a PS Plus subscription, who were still affected, has left a sour taste with some.

‘That’s barely any compensation at all,’ one user wrote on Bluesky. ‘I don’t even have a PlayStation Plus subscription but I couldn’t even access some of my digital games like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Palworld this weekend. ‘Doesn’t change anything either if you’re a longstanding customer who is keeping their subscription.’. That’s barely any compensation at all. I don’t even have a PlayStation plus subscription but I couldn’t even access some of my digital games like BG3 or palworld this weekend. Doesn’t change anything either if you’re a longstanding customer who is keeping their subscription.

-PSN goes down for like an entire day-Most PS5 users can't bloody use their systems-Sony says nothing throughout-Sony gives 5 whole days of PS plus as compensation! – ………….. Only to existing PS plus membersLadies and Gentlemen! The all digital future! ✨✨✨. Over on ResetEra, one user wrote: ‘Everything was down. People that game share (like me) were locked out of their entire digital library, including offline games. You didn’t need PS Plus to be affected.’.

‘I don’t have [PS Plus] but I do have purchased digital games that I couldn’t play because [of a] licensing error,’ a Reddit user wrote. ‘Us regular folks don’t get anything?’. As some have pointed out though, while it is an annoying byproduct of purchasing digitally, non PS Plus subscribers didn’t actually lose any money during the downtime – unlike those who had purchased a limited-time subscription.

Another concern for some is the lack of clarification around the issue, especially considering Sony’s history with PSN outages. In April 2011, the network went down for 23 days after it was targeted by hackers. There is some good news though if you’re a fan of Monster Hunter, with Capcom extending the upcoming Wilds beta across all platforms by 24 hours due to the issue. Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.

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