ack Tretton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA), speaks at a media briefing during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)
ack Tretton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA), speaks at a media briefing during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) Reuters

Sony didn't mince words at its E3 press conference; it came right out and apologized for all of its PSN problems.

The event was the first time the company would be in front of the video game industry crowd and it used the forum to address its security issues. As most people know, Sony's PlayStation Network server was hacked in early April and personal consumer data was accessed. The network was shut down by the company for a month and was restored with security enforcements.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America CEO Jack Tretton came out at the beginning of the company's press conference and went straight into the apology.

This isn't the first time I've come to an E3 conference with an elephant in the room, Tretton said before launching into an apology. Tretton thanked retailers and publishers for sticking with the company during the outage. He then apologized to gamers.

You are the lifeblood of the company. I want to apologize personally and on behalf of the company for causing any anxiety, he said. Network activity is currently at over 90 percent of the levels before the current outage, and that's something we don't take lightly.

Tretton also addressed the people who left the Playstation brand during the hubbub and said he hoped the company's presentation at E3 would convince consumers to come back.

There was a question of whether or not Sony would address the issue at all. Before the event, Scott Steinberg, veteran video game analyst at http://www.toptechexpert.com, didn't think the company would bring it up.

Memories tend to be short in the gaming world, Steinberg said. As Sony rolls out new hardware and eye popping new releases as well as games from proven franchises, it will illustrate how powerful the system is and why people have to have it. As they begin to introduce all of this, people will move on. Gamers will look at them more carefully, but I don't think it will affect anything.

On the other side, Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities, said he thought they should and would bring it up.

They need to reassure people. They need to say they are pleased it's back up and that they hope everyone knows they will take care of them in the future. They need to make people feel good about it. They don't need to apologize, but they need to restore confidence, Pachter said.

Follow Gabriel Perna on Twitter at @GabrielSPerna

Sony Twitter Sony Software