The PlayStation Network hack that compromised 77 million user accounts earlier this year was a PR nightmare, but the whole affair doesn't appear to have harmed Sony as much as initially feared. The platform holder was concerned the data breach might put some consumers off returning to the service, but European PlayStation boss Jim Ryan says Sony has been taken aback by the level of consumer engagement with PSN over the past few months.
"What has surprised us is the willingness of the consumers to re-engage when it came back up," he told MCV. "The level of activity on PlayStation Network since then has exceeded our expectations."
Last week, Sony CEO Howard Stringer claimed "PSN is more secure and better than ever". He added: "We are aggressively expanding its content. We have more than three million new customers since the network came back online, and sales are exceeding what we had before the cyber attacks."
Late last month Sony announced plans to unify online entertainment services PSN, Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited under a new brand titled Sony Entertainment Network.