Sony’s told developers that the electronics giant is facing an “emergency” situation as the PlayStation Network’s downtime looks set to continue.

As reported by VG247, companies signing into Sony’s developer relations receive the following message:

“PSN emergency maintenance.

“Please note that PlayStation Network is currently down for an emergency maintenance. Please hold while the issues are resolved.

“You will be unable to sign in until the maintenance is resolved.

“Apologies for the trouble.”

Sony’s online service has been down since Wednesday as a result of an “external intrusion,” with reports later emerging that the downtime may have been due to a firmware hack that allowed folk to pirate PSN content using fake credit card numbers.

These reports are as of yet unconfirmed, however, with Sony offering little else on the matter other than to say its restoration efforts will be “time intensive.”

We’ll have more on the situation as it develops.