PSN Outage Bites As Angry Gamers Defect To Xbox

Gamers are not generally a patient lot, and they are unforgiving when it comes to errors and issues with a game. When an outage like the PSN being down for so long in the wake of the attacks on Sony servers drags on and no online games can be played patients is as thin as the emperor's new clothes. Sony has apologized for the outage and has noted that it will launch PSN service again as soon as possible, but gamers are apparently fed up with the wait.

The outage is starting to affect Sony in ways other than just trying to track down the hacker or hackers responsible and patch the hole exploited to steal the PSN user details. Edge Magazine reports that its sources are saying that the PSN outage is leading to the defection of some gamers to the Xbox 360 console. The sources say that the trend of gamers trading PS3 consoles in on the Xbox 360 is growing. At the same time, the sales of PSN point cards are dropping and a shift in the ratio of multiplayer platform game sales and pre-orders are moving away from the PS3.

That is no surprise considering the heavy online play aspects of most games today. With the PSN down, there is no multiple player online action. Gamers would understandably choose to buy new games on the platform that would allow them to play immediately. One of the sources claims that in the first week of downtime for the PSN no major channels were noted in the UK by a major retailer. However, from the second week on, the manager says that the number of PS3 consoles traded in on Xbox 360 consoles or for cash has gone up over 200%.

[via Next-Gen.biz]