Playstation pays price for gamers’ privacy loss
ONLINE privacy has left few survivors in recent weeks. Dictators and celebrities were not the only ones left cowering in the shadow of Twitter. Online consumers were also shown to be vulnerable to the new threats emerging across the digital landscape. The hacking of personal data is a concern for anyone wielding their online purchasing power, including those fighting their own virtual battle – online gamers.
The recent attacks on the Playstation Network impacted over 100m users in the last month alone. Sony has estimated the costs arising from their security breach at approximately $173m (£105m). The long term damage on the Playstation brand however is still playing out on the BrandIndex trackers.
Playstation’s apology package on 17 May did little to stem damage in consumer “Impression” following the announcement of the hack. Between 21 April and 6 May, Playstation’s buzz rating fell by some 34 points. This impact was felt across other BrandIndex indicators, for example the Impression score of the brand fell from 20 points to eight in the same period.
Just two months ago, Playstation and Xbox were fighting neck and neck for second place position in Impression scores. On 28 February, just one point divided the two brands (PS3 at 20 points, Xbox at 21 points with Nintendo at 40 points).
Following the online security scare, Playstation has seen that gap widen by 13 points, (PS3 at seven points and Xbox at 16 points).
Such a dramatic impact on Playstation illustrates just how sensitive the consumer can be to the security of their data. Sony has taken measures to beef up the security of the platform which has improved their brand perception – just not enough to get them back to the level of their competitors.
Stephan Shakespeare is chief executive of YouGov.