Pitchford hits out at "evil" PSN hackers

Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has condemned the "cyber-terrorists" responsible for bringing down the PlayStation Network, calling on gamers to support not attack Sony as it works to restore services.

Speaking to Eurogamer this morning in London as part of a promotional tour for Duke Nuke Forever, Pitchford said: "Every one of us who plays games on PlayStation Network – and especially Sony – we're all victims of cyber-terrorism.

"We should all be rallying our support, hating the terrorists, wishing to dismantle that problem, because that could strike at any time and disrupt our fun and disrupt our way of life as gamers."

He argued that much of the ire so far, therefore, had been directed at the wrong target.

"It's freakin' terrible. [The hackers] are evil, they're criminal," he said. "We're all throwing darts at Sony – we should all give 'em hugs and help 'em out.

"It's the first time we've experienced it in the games industry and I think we're failing in how we respond to it. Everyone who is attacking Sony right now is failing. We need to attack cyber-terrorists."

On the day that news broke of a separate hacking of Square-Enix's user database, Pitchford expressed fears that the PSN attack could prove "inspiring".

"Other people that want to feel that kind of result now have examples they can look at which could inspire them," he said. "Wow, cyber-terrorism is now an inspiration for other cyber-terrorists? We need to stomp this sh*t out and kill it."

Acknowledging that online systems would always be at risk of a hacking attempt, he argued that, "The best thing is to try and create a culture where that behaviour is not acceptable human behavior."

PlayStation Network and associated services have been down since 20th April. Sony told Eurogamer earlier today that it was working to "get the network back on as soon as we can."