Offering less-than-sincere condolences for a competitor’s misfortune, a Microsoft spokesperson publicly hoped the ongoing PlayStation Network outage would lead to more action on Xbox Live.

Electronic Theatre quotes a U.K. Microsoft mouthpiece:

“Of course it’s regretful that Sony is encountering issues at such a busy time, and Microsoft takes no joy in the problems gamers are having playing their favourite games online. That being said, we are expecting Microsoft’s robust online network to see an increase of traffic from those gamers who own both systems. Being able to play their games via the Xbox LIVE network could make all the difference for some gamers, and the Xbox Nations event will allow all of them to do just that – whether they have a Gold subscription or not.”

On Friday, Sony revealed the outage that knocked its network offline — stopping gamers from playing online, as well as from playing some games altogether due to digital rights management snafus — comes from an “external intrusion.”

If you play on the PS3, is the outage driving you into the arms of a competitor?

Microsoft React to PlayStation Network Outage [Electronic Theatre via Kotaku]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.