Sony announced PS Stars today, a long overdue worldwide loyalty scheme that will reward you for engaging with your PS5 and PS4 over a prolonged period of time. It’s a necessary and important reveal from the platform holder, as PlayStation finds itself in a highly competitive market where the benefits of playing on any single system are slowly eroding due to the emergence of crossplay.
The programme will be totally free to join, and while specific details are limited, you’ll earn points by completing campaigns. These will range from simple tasks like playing any game once in a month through to more complicated ones like being the first in your time zone to earn a Platinum Trophy. The latter could potentially prove problematic, but we’ll need to wait to see how it’s implemented.
Presumably there’ll be dozens of different ways to earn points. We already know that PS Plus subscribers will earn points on every transaction they make through the PS Store, and we’re sure there’ll be other opportunities, like watching State of Play broadcasts, fulfilling game-specific challenges – like defeating a certain enemy – and more.
It begs the question, then: what are you willing to do to earn points and what would you want to spend them on? Is it PS Store credit that you crave, or perhaps you want physical trinkets and goods like Nintendo offers? Would you be willing to complete certain actions in exchange for additional PS Plus time – or even exclusive betas and demos?
PS Stars will release worldwide later this year, so we imagine Sony already has some pretty firm plans in place. But while we await more information on the initiative, it’ll be interesting to know what you expect from it: what actions are you willing to complete and what do you want in return? Take our poll, and then let us know your expectations and limits in the comments section below.
Comments 58
I’d not do anything I didn’t enjoy. Life is too short, and I’m more time poor than money poor at the moment. Surveys and stuff that I can do while commuting would be great. Getting trophies I do already. If the latter became a focus though I’d prefer sub time rather than ps wallet cash. I wouldn’t want devs to feel like they need to make trophies easy because it will get them more sales. That’s the benefit currently of trophies providing nothing except the fun and satisfaction of the tasks. Also, even with these savings, digital games will still be 5x the cost of buying a physical game second hand, so if money were important this wouldn’t be the best way to go anyway.
10 billion dollars raises pinky to corner of my mouth
For question 2 I just voted for all 8.
I think trying out game trials and demos should reward points as well which would also help towards those games sales.
For rewards I'd like some new stars exclusive playstation avatars as well as store credit
Just give me wallet funds to buy more games.
I hope Sony has a good beneficial implantation for users, supports this very well, make it part of their ecosystem and not abandon it early.
I think I already do most potential activities listed, although I don't think I'd play a game I don't personally enjoy purely for points. That's a waste of my time. I'm not sure I'd watch specific broadcasts either really; I'm not a big streamer or esports guy, so I wouldn't bother watching stuff like EVO even if there were points up for grabs.
As for the rewards I'd like, I think PS Store credit is the one really. I spend so much money on PlayStation anyway, getting a few pennies back just makes sense to me.
Given that its free, I'm in. The question is how useful it will be for someone like me who doesn't play online games. How much will I be rewarded for playing games offline on a regular basis? Will we be able to track progress for what we're trying to do?
If I can earn money towards buying games on the PS Store, or extending my PS+ sub, then its cool. Also, it would be nice if they made some of it retroactive and gave those of us who've been around a while some sort of bonus. I've had the same Playstation account since the PS2 era. Just saying.
Im personally excited for this. Feel like this is a replacement to what used to be that Sony Rewards program (where like 10 platinums would give you X amount of PSN dollars, etc...).
Nintendos coin system has been nice. You buy games, you get a currency to use toward a future purchase. I’m buying them anyway, so, it’s a nice system that gives me a discount in the future.
There have been multiple times where I’ve put it toward a 10$ game and only had to pay around 5$.
PSN credit, nothing more nothing less. Gamepass Ultimate literally pays for itself with all the rewards MS gives out, not expecting as much from Sony but thats all I personally need.
Can i get backpay on all the trophies ive earned? 186 platinums should give me a few credits XD
Show me the money (PS store credit)!
@OmegaStriver Yeah I really like this format, too.
@JudgeDredd Weirdly, it's something they've already announced: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2022/07/ps-stars-digital-collectibles-are-definitely-not-nfts-sony-stresses
No, I have no interest with PS Stars.
I only play kids games even on my PlayStation machines, that's it.
hope they can do this right. hope there's an easy way to track progress or get updates via the PS app. hope they remain consistent and don't drop it all of a sudden. at least it's free to join.
This sounds like we’re gunna get something for free for doing very little or for what we already do. Which actually means eventually they’ll snake their way to a point where they’ll give us less and we will have to do this (spend many many many hours) or pay with mtx (their preferred option) to get the same we got before. The hardest pass possible because I have zero faith that in the near future this won’t morph into some kind of money trap, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. I mean realistically what’s the best we’re going to get? Discounted digital games that are already way more expensive than physical editions, in other words nothing. This sounds like something that’d be right down the alley for people gullible enough to pay full price for digital games
Just like with Microsoft rewards, I won’t go out of my way to earn any of them.
Money talks - all else walks.
Store credit to spend on Sony's £70 games. Got plenty of games including Elden Ring for £0.00p thanks to MS rewards and currently have about £100 worth of points just sat in my account. If Sony can compete with that then I'm in.
Give me m o n e y...
I am trying to keep my expectations in check because rewards programs are rarely super generous but it is free so anything on top of just having fun playing games is a bonus imo.
How am I willing to earn them? I'll do anything, especially if you have some cheeseburgers man.
Depends on the rewards. If it’s glorified digital tat like most of Nintendo’s rewards (desktop wallpapers, 3DS themes etc) then I’m not interested. If the rewards are more tangible (Store credit, ps+ subs, etc.) then I’m interested.
@CWill97 careful what you wish for before they'll steal your mojo, OH YEAH BABY
If its anything like my tesco clubcard, I look forward to earning £1 off a £70 game in a couple of years
Hope it will be counted from the beginning of my PSN account creation.
I'm willing to bet that there will be some restrictions and limitations put in place with this, especially being rewarded points for Platinum Trophies. There's so many easy Platinum Trophies these days and it would be way too easy to earn these points. My guess is that it will be to a specific game and not any game.
And I'm willing to be that these rewards will only count towards Trophies earned after this reward system launch and not any Trophies you earned before the launch of this. If they did, they would have to backlog a hell of a lot of Trophies for lots of people.
This honestly gives me zero excitement. It sounds like they're aware that gaming is going in a horrible direction and are implementing this as a way to bribe people to play mediocrity in the hopes of showing out of touch CEOs that people care about their GaaS idea.
To be fair... I'll acknowledge I haven't been in a very optimistic head space the last few years.
@Uncharted2007 I hope things get better for you soon. Keep your head up and hopefully brighter days are ahead. All the best
Rewards towards ps plus membership would be ideal. It's one of the main reasons game pass is so popular. Nobody pays full price for it 😂
@Snake_V5 put a positive spin on it, I dare ya. Jeez man...🙄
@Playstationuser that's as generic a take as your username...lighten up dude.
@Uncharted2007 While I think you're maybe a bit harsh, I totally get your sentiment. Maybe I'm catastrophising, but I don't have the brightest vision for the "kind of gaming" I love.
Store credit is of course at the forefront of things I'd want as rewards. Even if the amount's a pittance, I'd probably just be playing games the exact same way I always have (to completion) so this feels simply like a neat bonus instead of extra tasks.
@supergurr Appreciate it. To you as well.
i’m willing to play my playstation and buy games
OK I live in GMT+8 which is currently the world's most populous time zone (yes I know India will have the world's biggest population next year) so I guess the first platinum trophy will have to be a no no for me.
I have PS+ now so, by default I'm there, but I'll just keep playing games they way I used too! I usually try to do max things I can before hitting the end, platimum comes naturally if the way to it doesn't require doing mundane challenges!
I'm worried that buying garbage plats like breakthrough or webnetics will result in a profit of PSN credits.
Let me get 100% trophy completion which I would do for free anyway, and that would be awesome to get rewarded for it.
Store credit for me but I bet its going to a grind just to get them.
Like most announcements out of the current Playstation HQ,the idea sounds promising but like eg: PS Plus Deluxe/Premium having a "library of classic psp/ps1/ps2 classic games",or the ps4 to ps5 first party game upgrades fee,it'll be the devil in the details.🤔
Everyone sees "free psn credits",but I can't see that being easily given away unless its directed towards say grinding away in Destiny 2,Fortnite,GTA Online or Last of Us Factions,(or whatever the online game ND are doing is called),rather than a smaller scale single player indie title.🤔 Like a casino,they want you to keep playing & paying,like any business.
Anyway its somewhat different,so let's just see how it unfolds.
they should offer similar to Microsoft rewards 20% off purchases, store credit or vouchers for currys tescos, or buying PS+.
I doubt the amount of rewards Sony give you will be worth the effort.
If its less than £5 a month i just wont bother
Maybe my mind is in the gutter but PS Stars sounded weird when I first read it. 😅😂
I mean why wouldn’t you ?
I don’t get it.
It’s only for trophies that I wouldn’t change the way I play just for this. It’s all about enjoyment that you spend time and money for not the other way round. Otherwise if it isn’t intrusive then it’s a no brainer.
I'd mainly like the PSN credits. But I'd also take some keyrings, pins and maybe even an artbook if they made those of my favourite games. Won't go out of my way to earn them.
If they want to do digital figures, maybe they could bring PS Home back to store them and to show them off!
I'm glad the top reward selected is store credit. Anything less than that is pointless, anything more is a bonus.
Online play to get rewards is ok but only if that's in addition to many of the other options, but not if it's the main focus.
The problem I found with this on Xbox was that it could become a borderline obsession; checking the criteria for earning points every day, clicking on different pointless things, doing 30 searches, downloading games I wasn't really interested in. It was like I was booting up the PS5 and Switch to play games, then booting up the Xbox to do some crap to earn points. You realise you're wasting a lot of time getting a handful of points. Don't get me wrong, it's great that you can get actual rewards, but you need to not get into a rut of doing it every day like a job.
I can see the Sony version being the same, but as it's my primary console, I should hopefully earn the rewards more organically, and I'll just have to try and avoid getting into pointless clicking around and watching videos that just eats into precious gaming time.
@JJ2 If it's not intrusive, I'd be all for extra perks like discounted PS+ stuff or in-game DLC.
Trouble is when it becomes hard-sell intrusive. Sony have already proved that they've completely forgotten how the PS4's "don't dump sh** on my dashboard" flag works as promotional stuff just appears without warning even though the flag is on. I can see the dashboard getting swamped with pointless 'play this now!' icons.
Well whatever it is I hope it's better than the reward points I get on Steam, which seem completely useless.
The success of this program hinges on the ability to earn enough points each month to keep subscriptions going a bit like a battlepass, MS already do this as diligent point hunters can perpetually keep game pass going by redeeming monthly rewards, a cool idea that seriously drives engagement. Sony also needs to understand that retro active rewards are important for their most loyal customers, how about a free week (or even better a month) of PS+ for each platinum you own at launch? People won't feel good about future challenges unless previous ones are recognized and the rewards are worth it
I'm only interested in store credit that can be used towards games, like MS Rewards. As long as they give an accessible range of ways to earn points then that can only be a good thing.
@Ouch If it wasn't for XCloud i wouldn't bother with most of the game specific challanges as no way i'm downloading a game, playing it for 5 mins to get an achievement and then deleting it, thankfully XCloud makes it much quicker and easier.
I think the digital figures sound pretty dope. Would be a cool reward for getting a Plat. Maybe give the figures different poses. 3 or 4 poses should be fine. They can have some kind of virtual display too like how smash bros melee and guilty gear Rev 2 had.
I would like to earn credits for games and dlc but I'm sure the requirements would be insane. Probably earn 1,000 platinum trophies or having to have been subscribed to ps plus since it first came out or some ridiculous bs
@sanderson72
Ha your not wrong haha.
It never bothered me too much other than very rarely just click and delete the thing though. Hopefully it won’t be worse.
Q: Will you be joining PS Stars?
A: Yes, I’ll be there day one
Q: What are you willing to do to earn PS Stars points?
A: Purchase games from the PS Store, Earn Trophies and 100 per cent completion, and Watch official broadcasts on Twitch and YouTube
Q: Which potential PS Stars reward would you want most?
A: PS Store credit to spend on games and DLC
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