PSN still down in Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong; PS3 outage continues due to Japanese government security fears

Written by Matt Swider on May 16, 2011

PSN News: PS3 gamers are offline in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, while US, Canada, UK, India are online.

Update: PSN Asia will be back up tomorrow for PS3 gamers in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia

PSN down in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia

PSN down in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia

Why is PSN still down in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia? Now we know the answer: the Japanese government is not allowing Sony to restart its PS3 and PSP online servers until it sees further evidence that the hacker-breached PlayStation Network is safe, according to the Dow Jones Newswires out of Japan. Neighboring countries South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are offline by association due to the fact that the Asian-based servers are located in Japan, where the PSN outage continues.

"We met with Sony on May 6 and 13, and basically we want two things from them," Kazushige Nobutani, director of the Media and Content Industry department at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, told DJNW. The government official went on to say that Sony has not complied with some of the promises made during the company's May 1 press conference, however, the he didn't make it reveal what these non-compliance issues were. The Japanese government also wants to know how Sony will regain consumer confidence over personal data like credit card information.

So while PS3 gamers in Japan and nearby countries are agonizing over the fact that they live in the only countries in which PSN is still down, they can pretend to take solace in knowing that the Japanese government is looking out for the best interest. Meanwhile, our best protection has come from being advised how to change your PSN password.

The phased restoration and rollout of firmware 3.61 in every other part of the globe means that PSN is back up in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Middle East, as stated by the May 14 press release. Also in that press release was an easy-to-miss line that said "Phased restoration in Japan and other Asian countries and regions will be announced in due course." When will PSN be back online in Japan? The next line said "The company expects to have the services fully restored by the end of May 2011," but that may just be referring to when the PlayStation Store and Qrocity are expected to resume. We'll have to wait and see as to when the free online gaming network comes back online. Go to the Gaming Target homepage for further status updates.