Studio Director Update – Recent Service Interruption for ESO on PlayStation

ZOS_MattFiror

Now that the dust has settled and the ESO PlayStation service is back up, here's a quick summary of what happened and what we'll do to make up the day of playtime that our PS4/5 community lost. The extended downtime was particularly unfortunate timing as yesterday was a holiday for many of you, and we know you were looking forward to spending your time off adventuring in Tamriel. We understand how frustrating this was.

First, the issue itself was caused by a service problem between ESO and the PSN platform and was entirely our fault. Because it was a problem between the ESO game and the PSN service, our solution was to rebuild the ESO patch, test it, and submit it for certification. This process takes time, which is where the initial 24-48 hour estimate came from.

However, with critical help from our PSN partners, we figured out a much faster solution - to modify the service itself. With that, it only took a service update and a restart, and after testing and verification, we were back in business very late last night east coast USA time and as I type this everything is running normally.

We know this wasn't fun. We don't like extended downtime either. I apologize for the situation and for the inconvenience and frustration it has caused. Thanks for being such a great community and bearing with us through this.

To alleviate some of the lost playtime from ESO PlayStation players, here's what we're going to do:

• We are extending the Anniversary Jubilee event by a few days for ALL players – it will now run until Thursday April 15 at 10am EDT for all platforms
• On PS4/5 only: The day 7 daily login reward will be modified to give five 150% experience boost scrolls (to make up for lost time)
• On PS4/5 only: The day 8 daily login reward will be modified to give players this month's pet (the Ayleid Wolf Pup, previously awarded on day 21) to make sure no one misses the reward due to disruption in their play schedule
• On PS4/5 only: The normal day 7 and 8 rewards will be moved later in the month, so you won't miss out on them either

Thanks again, and see you all in Tamriel.

Matt

TwinLamps

I aint from this platform but this response is very fair.
I wish any potential future issues such as this one was would have similar response as well.

rrimöykk

Finally excellent communication and customer service.

This is what we've always wanted: an honest response. Well played, Zenimax.

Thank you!

Lydawobbles

Thank you!!!

DragonRacer

This is very well-communicated and very fair compensation, thank you.

Cody

yeah i figured it would be resolved decently enough; was nothing worth getting upset over

ThorianB

A very fair compensation package, IMO.

Inaya

A class act to be sure!

Faedria

Thank you!

Firstmep

Not on ps myself, but solid response, hope to see more like this in the future.

redlink1979

Thank you for the insightful update!

VaranisArano

I remember when the Anniversary Event was extended for everyone for a week due to issues with PC/EU. So I wasn't surprised to see this one extended.

It's very nice to see that your team has since considered how to address platform-specific issues like this. I appreciate that not only is the event extended for everyone, but that you also specifically compensated Playstation players for the lost experience and their concerns over lost daily login rewards.

vivisectvib16_ESO

Customer service at its finest. Thank you ZOS & Matt 💜

spartaxoxo

Thanks so much! This is all I wanted from the beginning. Thanks for making it up to us.

Rikkadir

Thank you so much, Matt/ZOS.
Yes that's the way to do it, all work together.
A problem shared is a problem halved.

Brilliant customer service.
Thank you again.

hands0medevil

TwinLamps wrote: »

I aint from this platform but this response is very fair.
I wish any potential future issues such as this one was would have similar response as well.

Yeah, I wish pvp and cyrodiil's issues had this much attention and response

Cryptor

Well done! I don't play on Playstation but that is a very fair way to take care of this. GJ!

LukosCreyden

GG Great response and highly suitable compensation! Thank you very much!

Avoranti

Thank you @ZOS_MattFiror I certainly appreciate the urgency the ZOS team as well as the Sony team put towards this. What steps will ZOS be taking to ensure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again on any of the platforms? Is there anything the community can do to help or is this just a one off incident?

At the end of the day I think we all want to help make ESO a better place for everyone. Even for you folks behind the scenes.

OutLaw_Nynx

hands0medevil wrote: »

TwinLamps wrote: »

I aint from this platform but this response is very fair.
I wish any potential future issues such as this one was would have similar response as well.

Yeah, I wish pvp and cyrodiil's issues had this much attention and response

You literally couldn’t even play the game. Goodness.

Thrudra_Magia

I don't play on PS4, but they should be fairly compensated for the disruption and to me, this looks like a fair compensation.

This is what good community service looks like.

Well done, ZOS!

Bignupie1911

Good communication and good work fixing the issue.

Faded

ZOS_MattFiror wrote: »

First, the issue itself was caused by a service problem between ESO and the PSN platform and was entirely our fault.

That's never easy to say. +1 respect

Belegnole

I have to say that I am also not a PS player, but have been watching this with interest. I believe that this is a very good way to resolve this.

furiouslog

Kudos, ZOS.

Diminish

In the end, I feel as if this is all that many of the people that were vocal about this issue wanted, transparency! Please, no more of this pushing back maintenance windows multiple times, and giving updates that lack any real context. Transparency is a good thing no matter what caused the underlying issue. People just want to know what is going on, and when to expect services to resume. If you ask me, most of this post should have been included in your first update after missing the initial ETR; it would have alleviated the masses. All-in-all though, great job getting things resolved quicker than expected, and actually being informative to the community on the nature of the issue; it's really all most of us ask for, the compensation is icing on the cake. Well done, ZOS!

wynne13

Appreciate the update and compensation. Big thank you to the Zos and Psn staff who worked to resolve this.

spartaxoxo

Faded wrote: »

ZOS_MattFiror wrote: »

First, the issue itself was caused by a service problem between ESO and the PSN platform and was entirely our fault.

That's never easy to say. +1 respect

Agree 1000%. My respect for them went way up. I admit I was very skeptical of them due to the timing of this happening. I was very annoyed. But between this admission, the fair compensation, and how they worked into the wee hours of the night to fix this error, I am thoroughly impressed. I feel they went above and beyond. My faith in this game has been restored.

danno8

Professional and fair. Unlike some of the threads littering the forums during the downtime.

I understand being frustrated that you can't play your game, but the bashing and conspiracy theories floating around the forums were just uncalled for.

renne

Honestly, the thing that impresses me the most is that you straight up owned that it was entirely your fault. That kind of thing is pretty rare these days. Usually you get weasel words from a company so as to ensure they don't actually have to admit fault.

Gorilla

Thank you for being direct and open with us.

I would urge the team to do that more often, particularly on the state of the servers, lag, etc.

Communicating with your customers doesn't heal all wounds, but it makes the pain easier to bear.