The final phase of the PlayStation Network relaunch after hackers forced the closure of Sony’s online networks on April 19 of this year has been completed. Sony’s “Welcome Back” package is now available on the PlayStation store. Announced as a gesture of goodwill after the furor over possible compromise of PSN users’ personal information, the package offers free Sony games and services.
“Today, we’re excited to launch the Welcome Back program to thank you for your loyalty,” said Susan Panico, senior director of PSN on Sony’s official PlayStation blog.
PS3 owners may choose from two of the following titles: Infamous, Super Stardust HD, Dead Nation, LittleBigPlanet, and Wipeout HD+Fury. PSP owners may choose two titles from a choice of the PSP version of LBP, ModNation Racers, Pursuit Force, and Killzone: Liberation.
In addition, Sony is offering 60 free days of its premium PlayStation Plus service to both current subscribers and non-subscribers. Non-subscribers will receive 30 days free upon activation, which does not automatically renew, while current Plus customers will receive 60 days that will be added to their existing subscriptions.
Users of Sony’s Music Unlimited services will receive 30 free days plus any time lost during the outage, and PSN users will also receive 100 free PlayStation Home DLC items. In areas where video service is available, Sony is offering a selection of “On Us” PSN video rentals, good for this weekend only.
In order to be eligible for the Welcome Back Package, users must have been PSN members prior to April 20, 2011, the day after PSN was taken offline by Sony to investigate the security breach.
One part of Sony’s Welcome Back package was already available prior to PSN’s relaunch: one year of free personal information security monitoring from Debix’s AllClear service. E-mails should have been sent to PSN users on activating this service.
Instructions for obtaining “Welcome Back” packages are available on Sony’s official PlayStation blog.