PlayStation loyalty remains in face of PSN outage - Study

Though the PlayStation Store remains down, the dust is starting to settle on the Great PlayStation Network Outage of 2011. With online play and other functions restored, analysts are beginning to sift through the aftermath of the April 16-19 data breach and subsequent three-week service suspension that affected some 77 million PSN users.

GameSpot's industry-research division, GameSpot Trax, recently conducted a survey of 2,285 GameSpot users who own PlayStation 3s about the PSN outage. The majority of those surveyed, 67 percent, responded that they are "very likely" to resume using the PSN following the data breach and downtime. Those who are "somewhat likely" to use their PS3s online again totaled 14 percent.

About 64 percent of GameSpot users surveyed said that they are "very unlikely" to switch from the PSN to Xbox Live, with 11 percent saying a changeover is "somewhat unlikely." However, a minority--9 percent--said they had already switched over to Xbox Live, with another 5 percent saying they are either "somewhat" or "very likely" to do so.

Of those surveyed, 14 percent said they no longer trust Sony or the PlayStation Network, while 28 percent still trust Sony and the PlayStation Network, but are going to share less information with them. On the other end, 35 percent said their trust in Sony was unaffected by the outage, and 23 percent said the crisis was a good thing as it will cause corporations to lock down users' data more tightly. Some 57 percent said that Sony handled the outage and data theft appropriately.

Lastly, some 5 percent of respondents said they weren't even aware of either the PSN outage or the data theft.

GAMESPOT PS3 DATA BREACH AND OUTAGE SURVEY RESULTS (Sample size: 2,285. Percentages were rounded, resulting in >100% response totals for some questions.)

How does the recent security breach impact how you feel about Sony and the PlayStation Network?
--I no longer trust Sony or the PlayStation Network - 14%
--My trust in Sony and the PlayStation Network has not been affected by this - 35%
--I will be able to trust Sony and the PlayStation Network more in the future because the breach will force them to impose tighter controls - 23%
--I trust Sony and the PlayStation Network but I'm going to change the amount of information I share with them - 28%

How does the PlayStation Network security breach impact your trust in using online services in general?
--Negatively, I no longer trust any online services - 7%
--Not at all, I understand that these events happen and it won't stop me from using online services in the future - 71%
--Positively, I think all online services will learn from this and become more secure - 22%

Do you feel that Sony's response to the security breach was handled appropriately?
--Yes - 57%
--No - 43%

How likely are you to continue using the PlayStation Network after services are restored?
--Very Likely - 67%
--Somewhat likely - 14%
--Undecided - 10%
--Somewhat unlikely - 4%
--Very unlikely - 5%

How likely are you permanently switch from the PlayStation Network to Xbox Live?
--Very unlikely - 64%
--Somewhat unlikely - 11%
--Undecided - 13%
--Somewhat likely - 3%
--Very Likely - 2%
--I have already switched to Xbox Live - 9%