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SCEA boss Jack Tretton opened Sony’s E3 conference last night with what appeared to be a very sincere apology for the PlayStation network outage that has dominated the headlines over the last few weeks.
"This isn’t the first time that I’ve come to the stage at an E3 press conference with an elephant in the room. Of course I’m referring to the PlayStation Network outage. This is the first opportunity for me to personally address everybody and discuss it," he began.
"My friends who are reporters tell me that there’s absolutely nothing in the world that makes their editors day like controversy and bad news. So to all our esteemed members of the press I say ‘You’re welcome’."
Which won him a great round of applause from the reporter-heavy audience.
"To our third party publishing partners. You guys have been with us for over 15 years making tremendous games and I know the network outage was costly to you," he continued.
"What was incredibly surprising was your support and your offers to help get things back to speed and we wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for you. So I thank you very much.
"To our retail partners. You gave us shelf space when there was no PlayStation brand and you’ve given us more than our fair share since 1995 when we launched the PlayStation. We’ve just had our best year since PlayStation launched.
"That brings me to the audience I’m most interested in addressing, and that’s our consumers. You are the life blood of the company. Without you there is no PlayStation. And I want to apologise both personally and on behalf of the company for any anxiety that we’ve caused you.
"I know we took you away from what you enjoy most – connecting and gaming with friends all over the world and enjoying the many entertainment options on PSN. It is you that both causes us to be humble and amazed at the amount of continued support that you continue to give to the PlayStation brand."
Tretton went on to give some user numbers for the freshly restored service.
"Network activity is currently at over 90 per cent of the original levels before the network outage and that is something we absolutely do not take lightly," he explained. "We are committed more than ever to making sure that the PlayStation Network experience is both entertaining and secure for everybody."
