By Richard Scarlett
For a moment it was touch and go. Nobody knew what the outcome would be, nobody dared to predict it. Thousands – no, millions – were left stranded, confused, waiting with bated breath for some form of respite, anything. Thankfully, by some celestial power, a miracle came on Tuesday 2 March and the world breathed a heavy sigh of relief...
The PS3 was working again.
Yep, Playstation became the latest brand to fall foul of some form of electronic malfunction when the old-style consoles (you know, the fat ones) suffered an internal bug that tricked it into thinking it was a leap year. Gamers lost hard earned rewards, medals, downloaded games, movies and other data, and were told not to use the machine until further notice. However, it literally was a case of time being a great healer, as 24 hours and one somewhat conceited statement later (in which Sony seemed to be taking full responsibility for fixing the bug), the problem was fixed.
What happened in the period between problem and resolution, and even shortly after, was of particular interest to me. As expected, the social web was instantly ablaze with venomous comments from frustrated gamers – serving the Sony brand with a particularly harsh beating. X-Box owners were also out in force, using the bug as fresh ammo in the long-running battle of the consoles (which has inevitably converted to angry Tweets, ranty Facebook updates and explosive discussion boards). Web 2.0 fallout is to be expected these days, but this was coupled with a surprisingly dramatic reaction from traditional media outlets, so it soon became clear that this one was just going to snowball.
Working in PR I’m certainly not adverse to the idea of sensationalising a story, but you’ve got to agree that running a front page story on the ‘PS3 meltdown’, campaigning that Sony should be sued for the loss of virtual trophies and even comparing the whole thing to the Toyota recall earlier this year is a tad too much. Don’t even get me started on the fact that it’s now referred to as the ApocalyPS3! OK, I’m not disputing that this has probably caused a world of heartache for hardcore gamers the world over, but seriously – come on!
Needless dramatisation aside, Sony’s PR is not entirely without fault either. A lacklustre warning Tweet was issued 16 hours after the company first acknowledged the problem – telling users to stay away as they could cause irreversible damage by simply turning on their consoles (hardly ideal as most gamers were itching to play new release Heavy Rain, which funnily enough requires the machine to be switched on). Even more embarrassingly, it was an ordinary PS3 customer that took it upon himself to explain the glitch to bewildered gamers and even post an FAQ on the subject. Surely this is something that the PR department should have been on top of long before? Unfortunately, the failure to do so indicates the fact that the PS3 wasn’t the only thing to descend into chaos on 1 March.
So if you must compare Sony with Toyota, fine – but aside from the fact that both have been absolutely brutalised by the press, it seems clear that the only real similarity is the mysterious silence and reluctance to act during a crisis displayed by both PR departments.
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