Sony says full PlayStation Network and online store services return this week in West

Sony announced tonight that the full PlayStation Network service and the PlayStation Store are returning this week in the West.

If that happens as scheduled, then Sony will finally have recovered from the hacker attack that brought down the network in late April.

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The company said that it is restoring the services by the end of this week in Europe, the Americas and Asia — excluding Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

The company will also resume Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity. The Japanese company said it has implemented considerable security measures to protect the network infrastructure and tested the payment process and commerce functions.

Previously, the company restored partial services — including online gaming — on May 15 in the Americas and Europe, followed by Japan and the rest of Asia on May 26.

Sony said that the PlayStation Store and full in-game commerce will be restored. Players will be able to redeem vouchers and codes, and there will be full functionality for Music Unlimited and Media Go. Sony said the outage has cost it $171 million so far, and it expects to incur more expenses related to the outage in the future.

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