[PS3] Court Approves Sony Settlement In 2011 PSN Data Breach Case

[MrBill]

It appears that the class action lawsuit against Sony for the PSN data breach back in 2011 is coming to a close. Short story, if you took advantage of the offer Sony gave back then for free games, you can only take one of the offer groups (Free game, theme or 3 months of PSN+ membership. If you didn't take advantage of the offer back in 2011, you can choose 2 of the groups. The games are for the PSP and PS3 only since the Vita and PS4 were not launched at that time. If your identity was stolen and you can prove it, you can get up to $2,500 on your settlement. I'm guessing there will be stringent requirements to prove the identity theft was the direct result of Sony's negligence.

I'm not sure how they could stop you from applying the 3 months of free PSN+ to use for your PS4 so that is likely what I'll take when I get my notice in the mail.

Court Approves Sony Settlement In 2011 PSN Data Breach Case

by Mike Futter on July 23, 2014 at 08:21 PM

The US District Court for the Southern District of California has preliminarily approved a settlement over the 2011 PlayStation Network data breach, which took the service down for weeks. The cash value of the settlement could be as much as $17.75 million.

The settlement includes an offer of a PS3 or PSP game, PS3 themes, or three months of PlayStation Plus membership. Sony’s settlement offer includes a number of tiers depending on whether users took advantage of the “Welcome Back” game offer that was made available in 2011.

Users that did take advantage can choose one of these groups. Those that did not can choose two. Eight PlayStation 3 games, including Dead Nation, Infamous, LittleBigPlanet, Super Stardust HD, and Rain will be offered. Six PlayStation Portable titles, including LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, Patapon 3, and Killzone Liberation are included. The remaining, yet to be named titles, will be at least six months old from the time the formal settlement notification is posted.

There are caps on the different groups. Once $6 million of claims in the non-Welcome Back group and $4 million in the Welcome Back group are reached, claimants will be awarded a one month PlayStation Plus membership.

Additionally, those Sony Online Entertainment users that were affected can get $4.50 in Station Cash. The cap on this category is $4 million, and if claims exceed that amount, all users will have deposits reduced proportionally to accommodate the group.

The settlement also has a provision for identity theft protection reimbursements of up to $1 million for the group. If you can evidence that your identity was compromised due to the breach, you can submit a claim for up to $2,500.

There are also stipulations for those that had unused wallet currency and did not use it because of the intrusion (due to account lapse or deactivation). Additionally, there are mechanisms to reimburse Qriocity music service users that were paying at the time.

Attorney fees are covered in the settlement, and the many firms involved will be paid $2.75 million. We’ve reached out to Sony for comment and will update should we receive a response.

[Source: United States District Court (1), (2) via Polygon]

Our Take
The court order means that in the coming months, you should be receiving something in the mail that will allow you to claim your benefits under the settlement. You'll want to move quickly so as to get your filing in before the groups reach the cap.This is an interesting turn of events, ending the tale of one of the most memorable cautionary tales in recent video game history.