Sony: PSN cyber attack bill shrinking
"Not as great as originally estimated."
The financial impact of the PlayStation Network "cyber attack" will "not be be as great as we originally estimated", Sony has this morning revealed.
In May, Sony estimated that costs associated with the PSN cyber attack would be 14 billion yen (£105 million).
"That was the May forecast," said executive vice president and chief financial officer Masaru Kato. "The first quarter cost was within our expected range."
"The [total] cost may be smaller than the original cost estimate."
The "more important thing", Kato went on to say, was how many customers had returned to PSN following the cyber attack. PSN user logins in North America are on "a similar level" to before the cyber attack.
PSN was down from the end of April, through May, to the beginning June. The PSN sales trend for June, Kato revealed, "was about double the same month last year".
"Many customers have already returned to our service," said Kato. "At one point people were concerned, [but the] impact will not be as great as we originally estimated.
"Great news," added Kato.
The PlayStation Store wasn't restored in Japan until 6th July.
Earlier this morning, Sony posted financial results for the three months April, May, June 2011. PlayStation 3 sales were down 600,000 on the same period last year, although game sales were up.