Victims Of 2011 PSN Hack Can Now Stake Claim To The $15 Million Settlement

Even as Sony offers PlayStation Network discounts and PlayStation Plus subscription extension over the weekend for the Christmas Day hacking-related outage, as reported earlier, the company's customer base is in for an even greater payback. PSN members affected by the original 2011 hack and subsequent downtime can now stake a claim to settlement from the massive class action lawsuit.

According to VG247, the Japanese videogame major's original tryst with hackers nearly four years ago had resulted in a 23-day downtime. Important credit card details and passwords were also compromised, which may have resulted in monetary losses for some PSN members as direct fallout of the security breach. The company was criticised for withholding the knowledge of the breach from customers and being lackadaisical about securing critical customer data.

Sony had attempted to make up for the major security incident by offering customers free games and other PSN perks. However, dissatisfied U.S. PSN users had taken to the courts to file a class action lawsuit against the company. The suit was settled for a whopping $15 million (AU$18.6 million approximately) in July last year. Eligible PSN users can now claim their share of the compensation by clicking here to the official settlement website.

According to Attack of the Fanboy, PSN users who had signed up for updates on the lawsuit have begun receiving emails on the process detailing how to make a claim on the settlement. Reddit user mmavipc is one such subscriber who has shared the eligibility criteria on the website. According to the email, the class action suit's benefits can be claimed by everyone in the U.S. (including its territories) who has had a PSN, Qriocity, or SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) account at any time before May 15, 2011.

The benefits listed include payments equal to paid wallet balances, free subscription for a month to Music Unlimited for Qriocity users and $4.50 in SOE Station Cash. Moreover, those who had suffered monetary losses due to the compromised credit card details can submit claims up to $2500. The catch here is that the reimbursements will be reduced proportionally if the total amount payable on all valid claims exceeds $1 million.

Inquisitr reports that the company is also offering PlayStation 3, PS Vita and PSP games to those affected. Here's the full list of the titles:

PS3

• Dead Nation
• inFamous
• LittleBigPlanet
• Super Stardust HD
• Rain
• Puppeteer
• Invizimals: Lost Kingdom
• God of War HD Collection

PSP

• LittleBigPlanet
• Modnation Racers
• Patapon 3
• Killzone Liberation
• Wipeout Pure
• Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror

PS Vita

• LittleBigPlanet
• Patapon 3
• Killzone: Liberation

Themes

• WipeEout HD Dynamic Theme
• Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Dynamic Theme
• Tokyo Jungle Dynamic Theme
• The Last of Us Dynamic Theme
• Ratchet & Clank Dynamic Theme
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Dynamic Theme

Do remember that the deadline for sending in the claim forms (either electronically or through snail mail) is Aug‌. 31. At the moment, there's no official word on when affected users will begin receiving their settlement claims.