Remember way back in 2011 when the PlayStation Network was compromised and in order to address the security threat, Sony took PSN down for over a month? Once Sony was able to get things back on track again, the company kicked off a ‘Welcome Back’ campaign that offered gamers free games, extended PS+ memberships, and free access to then-called Qriocity. With the PSN data breach, the real threat of identity theft loomed as thousands of gamer information was stolen from Sony servers. To help counter that, Sony partnered with Debix to provide one-year identity-theft protection, free of charge for PSN and Qriocity users.

Despite all this and a personal apology letter from then CEO, Sir Howard Stringer, Sony would eventually face a class action lawsuit by some that believed they were the victim of identity theft. The same people of course decided not to participate with identity-theft protection but the suit would move ahead. Now Sony has finally decided to settle the PSN data breach lawsuit and bring the whole thing to a close for $15 million, but there is more to the story.

We now give you the Information Commissioner’s Office’s deputy commissioner David Smith:

 If you are responsible for so many payment card details and log-in details, then keeping that personal data secure has to be your priority. In this case that just didn’t happen, and when the database was targeted — albeit in a determined criminal attack — the security measures in place were simply not good enough. 

According to Sony, they decided to settle the PSN data breach lawsuit instead of continuing to fight it due to high costs and it might be the right move. Mega financial institute Bank of America declared that it’s set aside over $500 million for litigation costs during the next year. While Sony’s matter is a much smaller affair, they’re assessment to settle and pay $15 million versus the litigation costs onto of what could be a lost case where they’d have to pay anyways was a wise one. From Sony:

 While we continue to deny the allegations in the class action lawsuits, most of which had been previously dismissed by the trial court, we decided to move forward with a settlement to avoid the costs associated with lengthy litigation. 

So does that mean winners will get to split a cool $15 million amongst themselves? Not quit it seems. Depending on how you originally handled the situation or what accounts you held at the time, the offer differs but in short, it’s all more free games and services. Specifically, for those who didn’t participate in the original ‘Welcome Back’ offering from Sony, one free PS3 or PSP game out of 14 titles will be offered and three PS3 themes or they can opt for a 3-month subscription to PlayStation Plus.

For Qriocity only members, one month of Music Unlimited awaits them while those with an SEO account are eligible to receive $4.50 worth of “station cash” to spend. Finally, for people who can document identity theft charges, Sony will offer $2,500 per claim. Hopefully Sony can now move on from the whole fiasco and has learned a very expensive lesson that paying extra for security measures is something worth investing in.

Discuss:

When offered, did you take advantage of the ‘Welcome Back’ package from Sony?

[Via Settlement]