ADVICE: PlayStation Network (PSN) Outage Causing Struggles With Retail

A few days ago, I talked about users backlash with the PlayStation Network  and it looks like the predictions were right.  The month long outage is affecting retail sales and its not a good thing!  The top problem?  Users are beginning to trade in their PlayStations for Xbox 360s.  If I’m Microsoft, this couldn’t come at a better time, especially with their recent venture with Skype.

PS3’s network has been down for a variety of reasons and rightfully so.  But should the network be down for this long of a time?  Yes, I agree they must bring down the network to repair security holes, but is a month really the best option?  Perhaps they were trying to send a message to users that the more hackers try to get their hands on the PS3 the more Sony will fight back?  Probably, but its backlashed big time.

Here are some of the top problems Sony is facing now:

  1. Just two weeks into May, some retailers are already seeing an increase in trade-ins for Xbox (some retails are experiencing 200% increases)
  2. Retails already had a trend of PS3 users trading in their consoles for cash (as is expected in tough economical times), but now they have a second problem.  They’re losing consoles in two different ways
  3. PSN point cards and pre-orders for consoles are dropping significantly
  4. Black Ops and Modern Warfare users are the main users switching consoles – hint: Sony use this data to figure out how to get those users back and to reward users that have stayed
  5. PS3 game pre-orders have been canceled all together OR switched to xBox titles

Sony is losing market shares, big or small, users are moving from one console to another.  Sure one can argue they aren’t loyal customers, but either way Sony has unhappy customers.  They need to bring the system back up and come back with a bang!

Sony needs to:

  • Figure out FIRST how to reward users that have stayed loyal
  • Create new strategies to get customers back from xBox or attract a new customer segment
  • Repair their image from the recent outage
  • Make sure NO security holes are breached
  • Sony may need to think about hiring an in-house team to follow PS3 hackers online and keep track of their activity – I’m sure its been no secret that the PS3 was hacked or jailbroken
  • Come forward, use social tools to show they made a mistake and have learned lessons
All in all, every company faces these setbacks and how they deal with them going forward make or break their image.  Get it together Sony and turn this into a chance to use the “free” spotlight to your advantage.
See other interesting articles about PSN’s Network Outage here.