Splash Damage: PlayStation Network Outage Frustrating But Sony Has Our Sympathies

Despite being adversely affected by the PSN outage, Brink developer Splash Damage has admitted feeling "sympathetic" towards Sony's predicament.

"Of course for us it is frustrating to feel that half of our potential user-base won't be able to play online together immediately," Splash Damage founder Paul Wedgewood told GameSpot.

"I guess it could have some impact on sales, but really what we're saying to people at the moment is, you could be one of the first level 20 characters when PSN comes back online.

"I know that a lot of people are venting their frustration at Sony and are quite angry about the situation, but you have to think that there are a lot of people there who have just had a horrific few weeks, because of a bunch of hackers.

"These are individuals at Sony that are going through really really stressful periods, and it's very hard to protect your network against every possible threat.

"There's always going to be something new and unexpected, and I'm an ex-server network analyst, so I suppose I'm probably more empathetic than your average person."

Paul Wedgewood suggested that people might be so upset at the outage because of the great service Sony's providing.

"It's because Sony have been providing such a great service, so you care about the fact that it's gone now. So in some ways, it is actually really a compliment to Sony."

The sentiments echo comments made by Randy Pitchford over night. The Gearbox president suggested that much of the blame had been misplaced, and that gamers should be rallying behind Sony should take a look at the criminals behind the PlayStation Network attacks rather than the beleaguered platform holder.

It's good to see the development community look at the situation in a way that journalists and gamers alike have been unable to. As we've said before, it's right that Sony should shoulder some of the blame, but much of the hate seems a touch unfair at the moment.