Sony: PlayStation Network Likely A Few Days Away From Restoration

If you want to know the exact date the PlayStation Network will be restored, you're out of luck.

In an update on Tuesday, Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications, gave another update on the PlayStation restoration saga. Seybold's update essentially said the same thing as Sony's previous updates: they don't have an answer for consumers. The best he could do is say it's likely a couple of days away.

I know you all want to know exactly when the services will be restored. At this time, I can't give you an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more days. We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work through this process, Seybold said.

The network, which has been shut down since April 20, was the victim of a hacker attack in early April. 25 million users had their personal information illegally accessed including names, addresses, e-mail addresses, birthdays, passwords, and user names, as well as online user handles. Sony's music and video sharing service, Qriocity, was also illegally accessed and subsequently shut down.

The financial damages caused from the outage could be of greater concern for Sony. According to a report in The Wall St. Journal, the damages caused to Sony for the hack and outage is estimated to be $1.25 billion. Mizuho Investors Securities analyst Nobuo Kurahashi, who gave the estimation, told the Journal that the monetary value could be even worse if consumer confidence in Sony is permanently lost.

Outside of consumers and Sony itself, there are others upset about the shut down PlayStation network. Christian Svensson, senior vice president of video game publisher CapCom, said the shutdown has cost his company a lot of money.

On a related note, as an executive responsible for running a business, the resulting outage obviously costing us hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in revenue that were planned for within our budget. These are funds we rely on to bring new games to market for our fans, Svensson said.

The company has already announced several packages to welcome back its customers when it does finally restore service. Existing members will get 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service and Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity subscribers will get one free month.

Sony did not respond to an inquiry for comment.

Follow Gabriel Perna on Twitter at @GabrielSPerna