Sony PlayStation Network Settlement: $15 Million Paid in Games, Not Cash

Who qualifies

• The class was every US resident, including US territories, who had a PlayStation Network account or subaccount, a Qriocity account, or a Sony Online Entertainment account at any time before May 15, 2011.
• PSN account holders who had NOT already claimed Sony's 2011 "Welcome Back" package could select two benefits: one PS3 or PSP game from a list of 14, three PS3 themes from a list of six, or a three-month PlayStation Plus subscription (for people who were not already subscribers).
• PSN account holders who HAD taken the "Welcome Back" package could select one of those benefits rather than two.
• Anyone with paid virtual currency still sitting in their wallet could have the balance refunded, provided it was $2 or more.
• Sony Online Entertainment account holders who were not PSN members received $4.50 in Station Cash, subject to proportional reduction if total claims exceeded $4 million.
• Qriocity account holders without a PSN account could claim a free month of Music Unlimited.
• Identity theft reimbursement of up to $2,500 required documentation showing the loss resulted from the 2011 intrusions, and the total available for it was capped at $1 million.
• All of these closed on August 31, 2015. There is no way to claim any of them now.

The 2011 PSN breach and what the settlement actually delivered

1. 1

   April 2011 — PSN goes dark for 23 days

   Sony took the PlayStation Network offline in April 2011 after discovering an intrusion into the systems behind PSN, the Qriocity music and video service, and Sony Online Entertainment. The outage lasted 23 days and remains one of the longest in the history of a major online consumer service. Account information for roughly 77 million accounts was exposed, including names, addresses, email addresses, birth dates and account credentials.

2. 2

   The 2011 "Welcome Back" package came first — and it mattered later

   Before any lawsuit was resolved, Sony offered affected users a goodwill "Welcome Back" package of free games and a trial of PlayStation Plus. This is easy to confuse with the settlement, and the two interacted: when the settlement was finally approved four years later, people who had already accepted the Welcome Back package were entitled to one benefit instead of two, because they had already received something.

3. 3

   2012 to 2014 — most of the case is dismissed

   The lawsuits were consolidated as an MDL in the Southern District of California in 2011 and a consolidated complaint was filed in January 2012. Judge Anthony J. Battaglia dismissed the majority of the plaintiffs' claims, allowing a narrower set of state consumer-protection claims to continue. That partial dismissal is the practical reason the eventual settlement was modest and paid largely in kind: the strongest damages theories were gone.

4. 4

   July 2014 — a $15 million settlement, paid in games

   The parties reached a settlement and Judge Battaglia granted preliminary approval on July 10, 2014. Its headline value was up to $15 million, but the structure was in-kind: free PS3 or PSP games, PS3 console themes, or PlayStation Plus subscription time. That structure is unusual today, when breach settlements pay flat cash amounts, and it is why the case is remembered as a disappointment despite the size of the number.

5. 5

   January to April 2015 — the claims window

   Notice went out and the claim site at PSNSOEsettlement.com opened in January 2015. Claimants had to supply the sign-in name for the affected account and attest under penalty of perjury that the information was true. The deadline to opt out or object was April 10, 2015, and the deadline to file a claim was August 31, 2015.

6. 6

   May 4, 2015 — final approval

   At a hearing on May 4, 2015, Judge Battaglia found the settlement fair and granted final approval, together with the award of attorneys' fees and costs. Reporting at the time put counsel's fees at about $2.75 million of the $15 million.

7. 7

   Where the only real money went

   Two elements were cash rather than content. Paid virtual currency balances of $2 or more were refunded outright — a genuine refund of money already spent. And identity theft losses were reimbursable up to $2,500 per person on documentation, but with a hard $1 million total cap across the whole class. With roughly 77 million accounts exposed, that cap made a documented-loss payment a rarity rather than an expectation.

8. 8

   Do not confuse this with the 2014 Sony Pictures hack

   These are two separate breaches with two separate settlements and they are constantly mixed up. The 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment — the one linked to the release of the film The Interview — exposed employee data, not gamer accounts. That case, Corona v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2:14-cv-09600 in the Central District of California before Judge R. Gary Klausner, settled for about $8 million with final approval on April 6, 2016, and covered roughly 437,000 current and former employees with three years of identity protection and a reimbursement fund. If you were a PlayStation user, that case was never about you.

9. 9

   What this case is worth knowing for now

   The PSN settlement is the clearest example in the corpus of a large-sounding number that delivered very little per person, and of a claims window that closed quietly years after the event that made headlines. Breach settlements today pay cash and often open and close inside a single year. ClaimBee tracks open settlements, checks your email for the notices administrators send, and alerts you before a deadline passes, so the four-year gap between a breach and a claim window does not cost you the claim.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and official records

Every figure and date on this page was taken from the primary records below — court dockets, agency releases, and the settlement administrator's own notices. Payout averages we describe as averages are calculated from the official totals, not reported per-person estimates.

• CourtListener — MDL 3:11-md-02258 docket: preliminary approval July 10 2014, final approval granted at the May 4 2015 hearing before Judge Anthony J. Battaglia
• Court-approved class notice (PR Newswire) — class definition, every benefit tier, $2,500 / $1 million identity theft caps, August 31 2015 claim deadline
• The Register — claims window opening, benefit options and the $2,500 identity theft cap
• Hunton Privacy Blog — final approval of the separate Corona v. Sony Pictures 2014 hack settlement (the case this one is confused with)