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Sony defends free PSN games offer

"Hard to offer something for everyone."

Sony has defended its "Welcome Back" offer of free games after users criticised the titles available.

SCEE Head of communications Nick Caplin responded to PlayStation Network users unhappy they already own many - or all - of the games on offer.

"We've tried really hard to put together a list of high quality BD games, rather than simply offering cheaper PSN titles," Caplin said. "The average metacritic rating for these games is over 84 per cent, so these are high quality games."

The full Welcome Back programme is Sony's compensation for gamers left stricken without PSN for 25 days.

PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable owners are each entitled to choose two games from a list of five, which includes LittleBigPlanet, Infamous, and Wipeout HD/Fury.

For those who already own or simply do not want one of the free titles, there is no option to swap for others.

"Unfortunately with a user base of 77m people, it is really hard to offer something for everyone," Caplin commented.

PSN users are also entitled to 30 days free PlayStation Plus subscription, although Plus content will then disappear afterwards.

"Unfortunately that is the way PS Plus works," Caplin explained. "But if you look at as access to a lot of free content for a month, you should have a busy month of gaming."