So Many People Played GT Sport on Christmas Weekend, PSN Thought it was a DDoS Attack

PSN has been rock solid for at least 2yrs. The last time I recall any downtime was a few Christmas' ago when PSN and XB Live where both DDoS'd. Based on my experience with an XBO in recent days, download speeds and reliability of connection are also as good, if not better, on PSN. My experience with XB Live is constantly dropped connection interrupting and pausing downloads.

Sony gave out free games for that. I got Infamous.
 
Several people have said GTS has not sold more than GTA, or CoD. I agree. However, to me, it sounds like the article is saying more players were playing GTS than expected.

For example, if Sony believes only 200,000+ should be trying to play, but then 500,000+ are trying to play, it might look suspicious.

With the holiday sale and new dlc, it sounds like a lot more people bought GTS than expected. This caused the number if requests to play GTS to rise. Couple that with the holiday, and nearly everyone who had GTS was trying to play simultaneously. Since the requests to play rose dramatically, they thought it was an attack I guess.

For me, this leaves a couple of unanswerable questions?

1. How did they misinterpret sales? How do you not know how popular a game is?

2. It is now the day after Christmas. Not everyone has attempted to play due to family obligations. With Christmas now officially over, many more people will be trying to play. How can GTS/PSN be sure this doesn't happen again?
 
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Several people have said GTS has not sold more than GTA, or CoD. I agree. However, to me, it sounds like the article is saying more players were playing GTS than expected.

For example, if Sony believes only 200,000+ should be trying to play, but then 500,000+ are trying to play, it might look suspicious.
In the UK alone GT Sport sold around 125K (retail only) it's first couple of weeks on sale. From Black Friday onwards it sold another 200k+, many of which would have been part of PS4 and PSVR bundles (so likely presents). That was all a couple of weeks before the new update hit which attracted even more new buyers.
 
In the UK alone GT Sport sold around 125K (retail only) it's first couple of weeks on sale. From Black Friday onwards it sold another 200k+, many of which would have been part of PS4 and PSVR bundles (so likely presents). That was all a couple of weeks before the new update hit which attracted even more new buyers.

For what its worth, my numbers had no merit. I made them up and used as an example
 
PSN has been rock solid for at least 2yrs.

Hard to tell anything about your experience given that you have no location info, but "rock solid" is not a fair description of PSN. It tends to have at least one major outage a year, with more minor problems depending on where you live.
 
At the end of the day it comes down to PD design choice of ‘eggs in one basket’, whether it’s a DOS attack, server issues, etc., the results in the end are the same, unplayable game.

Hopefully this is a shot across PD bow and will make them take a second look at there approach to protecting save data. Currently this global GT party is powered by a single chord, always hoping that no one trips over it, or lights out for everyone:lol:.
 
PSN has been iffy since PS3, but back then you didn't have to pay for it so people accepted a certain level of performance. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to have changed now that people pay for PS Plus, it's the same stuff with an additional revenue stream for Sony.

I'm playing quite every day, apart when I'm on holiday somewhere far away since GTAV release on PS4. And quite... Never had problems with PSN or GTSport since release. Even when PSN was "hacked" I still had all services on. Few times it was off for me, when it was planned maintenance both on PSN and GTSport. Or when ISP glitched out for half of the UK.
 
It doesn't surprise me, considering for much of yesterday there was a worldwide issue where you couldn't redeem vouchers. One of mine eventually worked at around midnight so I finally have Uncharted 4 after gawping at it longingly since launch.
 
Sorry but I simply do not buy this as a reason at all, but a nice spin attempt by PD.

Does anyone honestly think that the uptick in new players for a title that was 13th on the Christmas week sales chart was seen by PSN as a DDOS attack, but the numbers from the likes of COD:WW2 and FIFA didn't?

If it was seen as a DDOS on the PSN network then why was only access to the GTS servers affected?

Why did other services managed via PSN not see a single hit in terms of service?

This smacks of a situation in which PD and Sony did not anticipate an uptick in players trying to access the GT servers via PSN and bugger all else.
 
Does anyone honestly think that the uptick in new players for a title that was 13th on the Christmas week sales chart was seen by PSN as a DDOS attack, but the numbers from the likes of COD:WW2 and FIFA didn't?
COD - peer-to-peer
FIFA - peer-to-peer
GTS - dedicated servers

If it was seen as a DDOS on the PSN network then why was only access to the GTS servers affected?

Why did other services managed via PSN not see a single hit in terms of service?
Typically anti-DDOS measures block only those services suspected of malicious behaviour. If they blocked everything, any attempt at DDOS would succeed, because all services would be denied...


It's clearly a configuration oversight - which PD is pointing the finger at PSN/SEN - that's resulted in any attempt to authenticate GTS through PSN (as the game does on startup) to be interpreted as malicious, blocking all of them. If that's the case, it wouldn't affect anything else.
 
So we've had:
"Couple this with the rampant banning of IP addresses because the security firm responsible for handling PSN, is comprised of nincompoops."

And
"Why did other services managed via PSN not see a single hit in terms of service?"


I must say, I'm quite confused which one to believe.


But that's probably because there was no banning of IP addresses.
And with just one thread on the EU forum regarding PSN Store issues having over 33,500 views since yesterday, it would seem other services also took a "hit".
 
Sheer volume is not how you detect a DDoS attack. You detect it through change in volume.

So, if ten thousand people log in regularly, then all of a sudden a million people try to log in, the alarm sounds. It doesn't matter if the total number is lower than other games.

I'm simplifying, but you get the idea.
 
COD - peer-to-peer
FIFA - peer-to-peer
GTS - dedicated servers
COD is peer to peer and dedicated (the exact same as GTS is)

Its peer to peer for the un-ranked matches and dedicated for the ranked matches.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/call-of-duty-ww2s-dedicated-servers-return-on-ps4-/1100-6454966/



Typically anti-DDOS measures block only those services suspected of malicious behaviour. If they blocked everything, any attempt at DDOS would succeed, because all services would be denied...


It's clearly a configuration oversight - which PD is pointing the finger at PSN/SEN - that's resulted in any attempt to authenticate GTS through PSN (as the game does on startup) to be interpreted as malicious, blocking all of them. If that's the case, it wouldn't affect anything else.
And yet COD didn't cause the same issues, despite a more likely scenario of a much higher number of players and increase in players over the Christmas period.

Based on the PSN argument, just about any company that didn't anticipate traffic volumes could claim the same (mistaken for a DDOS).

Its a nice spin, but that's too my mind exactly what it is, and I'm pretty sure that just about any other title trying the same thing would not be given the same 'understanding'[/QUOTE]
 
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Sheer volume is not how you detect a DDoS attack. You detect it through change in volume.

So, if ten thousand people log in regularly, then all of a sudden a million people try to log in, the alarm sounds. It doesn't matter if the total number is lower than other games.

I'm simplifying, but you get the idea.
This right here. It’s pretty simple really. Also GTS logs into the server when ever you play. Not everyone plays COD online.
 
Technical isssues happen. Xfinity cable tv was having major issues last night in my area as well, it also effected my xfinity internet.
 
PSN still awful, even though people now have to pay for it. More news at 11.

Also, this sounds like horseballs to me. GTS hasn't sold enough for it to even make an online dent against goliaths like GTAV Online. If GTS counts as looking like a DDoS attack PSN would be down every other day. I would say that Sony allocated GTS a relatively small amount of online resources, and it straight up got overwhelmed at Christmas.
Pretty much this.
 
Some how I have not yet started with the GT League, So how the Sport Mode attracts me more. I know GT League would be fun, I will be focusing on it next weekend.
honestly the lack of a championship with points chase leaves me a bit underwhelmed. I still don't get how this mode is an improvement over the arcade mode. If arcade allowed you to build your own series it would make for an even larger disparity.
 
I hope we see an Off-Line Save Mode in the Next Patch.

Your Game Progress and earnings are saved in an Off-Line File while off line.
then when you get connected, your On-Line save is Downloaded, and all the Off-line Progress is Merged in / added.

That is what we need in the Next patch.
 
I hope we see an Off-Line Save Mode in the Next Patch.

Your Game Progress and earnings are saved in an Off-Line File while off line.
then when you get connected, your On-Line save is Downloaded, and all the Off-line Progress is Merged in / added.

That is what we need in the Next patch.
Apparently the reason as to why online only saving is a thing is because some FIA regulations.
 
The fact that everyone who owns the game MUST be online to "play" it properly is the biggest problem... The reality of how stupid this all is, is really starting to hit them now.

Be it, whether you're just booting it up to mess around on or try out, or show your buddies it....... may as well be online.

This franchise is quickly becoming a stigma ... the massive stupidity of this online crap, and with them never fixing simple game breaking bugs..... or even acknowledging them in the slightest..... Its gotten to the point it seems the more simple and annoying a bug is, the less chance of it ever being patched, even stretching back to GT6.
 
No, guys, in fact no one bought GT Sport and Polyphony will be forced to make a new numbered GT game with the old mobile chicane career mode, haven’t you heard the Failure Narraive pushed by bitter longtime fans?
Bitter long time fans? That's a bit of an overstatement . If anything as somebody that's played gt since gt1 I'm happy to say I'm not bitter , infact I'm enjoying this game greatly .
It's best for you not to speak for others . Only yourself .
 
When I saw Sony's explanation for the server connection issues, I immediately thought that they were trying to make themselves look good in light of the PSN hack several months ago. As in, "We are now so severely committed to your account security that we will shut down the network when an abundance of users try to connect." OK, but what about the earlier fix where you just have to try connecting a few more times and then you should be able to connect (which I was able to do)?? Doesn't seem like it was a security protocol after all... fishy...
 
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