Console wars: Sony PlayStation Network outage helping Xbox 360 sales

Sony PlayStation Network (PSN) online gamers could not withstand three weeks of downtime and has decided to give Microsoft Xbox 360 a try.

On April 20, Sony shutdown the PlayStation Network after a malicious attack by hackers, exposing millions of account and credit card information. Sony’s response appeared to be rather slow and unsatisfying. Reports of the incident did not come into public for a week, the first system restoration deadline has been missed, and the exact date of full restoration is still uncertain.

While Sony tried to remedy the situation by implementing identity theft protection policy and giving away freebies, annoyed customers shunned Sony’s attempt and traded their PlayStation 3 with rival Xbox 360.

Edge has reported a growing number of Sony PlayStation trade-ins, and a majority of them wanted Xbox 360.

“In the first week of downtime we did not really see any major change in sales or trades,” Edge quoted a store manager at a major UK retailer as saying, on condition of anonymity. “However from the second week onwards we have seen an increase of over 200 per cent on PS3 consoles being traded in, split almost 50/50 between those trading for cash and those taking a 360 instead.”