For the past 30 days, PlayStation Network users have had an opportunity to take advantage of the Welcome Back program offered by Sony to thank everyone for their patience during the network downtime following April’s security breach. That offer ended today, as the package details originally stated it would. Unfortunately for Sony, some fans are feel that the window closed a little prematurely.
Senior social media manager Jeff Rubenstein fielded some questions on the subject from Gamefly’s Garnett Lee over Twitter today (via Joystiq). The language used in the original PlayStation Blog post running through the Welcome Back details apparently gave fans the impression that the deal would be expiring at the end of today.
The FAQ says that “the content offered as part of the Welcome Back Program is available for download [starting June 3] and will be available through July 3.” Further down, it goes on to read, “access to the Welcome Back content will be expiring on July 3. Once the date has passed, the Welcome Back section in the PlayStation Store will be removed.” (emphasis added)
It’s that pesky “once this date has passed” thing that is getting some people riled up. Rubenstein confirmed over Twitter that he’s sent queries out for more information, but he makes the not entirely invalid point that the offer has been there, ready and waiting, for a month now. Of course, disgruntled users also rightly point out that “once the date has passed” sets a clear end point for the offer at midnight on July 4, and that Sony hasn’t honored its commitment in pulling the content offline before then.
