One of the PS5’s flagship features will be discontinued later this year as no one used it. Accolades were introduced on the new-gen console as a way of allowing players to acknowledge each other’s efforts in online games. The function enabled you to award teammates and opponents badges based on their playstyle, so you could say they were Helpful or Welcoming, for example.
But a post on the official PlayStation website notes that uptake has been low: “In fall of 2022, the Accolades feature on PS5 will no longer be supported. The feature hasn’t seen the level of usage we anticipated, so we are refocusing our efforts. We encourage the community to continue to send positive messages to one another.”
Sony recently pointed out that engagement across its consoles has been “much lower than anticipated” of late, and that it’s working to increase the amount of playtime owners invest across both the PS5 and PS4. We imagine new initiatives like the loyalty programme PS Stars will help with that, so it does make sense for the company to move away from Accolades if they aren’t getting used.
Did you ever touch the Accolades system? Will you be sad to see it go? Give us a badge in the comments section below.
[source playstation.com]
Comments 89
Didn't know it exists.
How dare they discontinue this feature!!
I used it once and now i’m very cross! Might even trade my console in!
I think I have, like, two Accolades. It was a decent idea but poorly implemented, ultimately.
I have literally never heard of these before now lol
Hardly any games I played supported it so it's not even like it's the players' fault. Welp, too bad but I don't think they'll be missed.
@get2sammyb I got an accolade in MK11 once, which was funny because they're supposed to be anonymous but in MK you could only give one directly after a 1on1 match
I used it a handful of times at the start, then didn't bother. Only the other day I was just looking at my profile for some reason and I've received loads, that I never even knew about. Oh well.
Clicked on this article to find out what Accolades are.
I have received only two accolades and given out zero 😅
Only ever played one game with them in, and then it seemed to be random whether you could actually give one or not.
Could have been a good idea if there was a bit more variety (game specific ones etc) and if devs actually implemented them.
I forgot these existed, and it looks like I'm not the only one!
This was a thing?
I must be the only one that liked them. After a good team game or even a game tough game of madden. Receiving an accolade dang lol rip
This was barely a thing on Xbox 360 years ago so I'm not sure why they bothered. People only ever used it to send negative reviews to other people and then after a while nobody bothered doing even that.
Wtf???
And that’s my final answer.
Saw it once when I played a game of Worms Rumble, it asked if I wanted to hand out any accolades. Haven’t seen it since.
I've always seen the Accolades trailers for certain games on Youtube and I never even bothered what it was, lol.
If I forget about the Last of Us 1 remake will that also go away 😂😅
I never even bother with the share button on any of my consoles. Accolades won't be missed.
Good. Can we PLEASE get customizable backgrounds like on the PS3 & 4 instead ??? I can’t stand having to look at whatever Sony is trying to sell me based on my games and preferences all the time.
Cool concept but never even saw an opportunity to use it. Glad they're phasing it out if it's pointless. Good to keep the cleanest possible UI (and be honest about what features haven't gained any traction).
First time I learned about this feature, and used it, was playing co op in returnal where after a co op game it puts it upfront.
Barely used it, but if the feature already exists… does it really take that much more effort from Sony to keep it?
Maybe it could be a pretty interesting move to create almost a ‘tip’ system. Where you can donate some of your reward points to decent players who help you out in games? Thus giving more encouragement for players to ‘send positive message to one another’…rather than give up on the idea completely.
Their reward system will definitely help with player engagement. Has done wonders for Xbox. But you know what ‘looking at the amount of playtime invested’ really translates to for Sony…they’ve not been shy about it. It’s live service games. Next few years we’ll see the fruition of that for sure.
Apparently there’s rumours now they’re thinking about increasing the price of the ps5. The message the vocal Sony fanboys sent has been heard. Let’s see what that does for player engagement.
Got my PS5 in January and never heard of these!
Glad to see I'm not the only one that didn't even know this was a thing! I doubt I would have used it ever anyway even if I did know about it though so this is fine.
I liked the idea. I have seen them on people's profiles, but never knew how to give them to others. I think if they put it more front and center for a while it would have taken off more.
I think it’s a shame, encouraging positivity and good sportsmanship is a great idea but I think they didn’t implement it in enough games (at least ones that I play).
Perhaps if there was some incentive or reward attached to receiving accolades (like a small voucher or store credits) it would have gotten more traction and encouraged more comradery.
I don’t really do much online, but I do feel bad about myself every time I scroll past my Accolades tab on my profile and see it empty. I should try not to base my own self-worth on external praise. 😉
But seriously, it is a little depressing to see that this effort to cultivate positivity in the online gaming community has been so underutilized. There’s a lot of toxicity out there and Sony was trying to forge something uplifting. People just want to be mean, I guess.
I had around 50 votes on my profile, mostly because that one rock mining game.
Good riddance. Sony will stop accusing people who play single player of being human filth for not receiving any accolades.
I think I remember Sony talking about this when it was announced.
And I forgot about it lol.
It annoys me when developers don’t use all the features available to them. Just lazy frankly
Maybe the fact that it's so hidden that I don't even know how to use them doesn't help lol
Oh Accolades. I remember that. Barley saw it being supported. Sony really needs to promote these features more.
I got a few whist playing Sackboy and a handful more with Deep Rock Galactic but honestly never saw the point of them as they just sort of sit there and gather virtual dust. So no, can’t say it’s a loss at all as hopefully it’ll declutter my profile screen.
Still, cheers for those who gave me any even though, like me, I know it was only because you idly pressed the button whilst the lobby was reloading!
Like everyone else I had no idea these even existed, and I am pretty in tune with the various features of the PS5, but yeah never heard of these.
Accolades were ***** useless I have quite a few and I think they were given out of sarcasm because of how bad I was at a game I just started playing, so I would get the helpful one alot 🤣🤣
Oh yeah. Completely forgot about that thing. I remember now seeing it once
The what now feature? Nope, had my PS5 for over a year and never once used it...or even knew it existed. Rip in peace, I hardly knew ye. Literally.
I'm just going to jump onboard the hate train and pretend I'm mad that Sony would DARE discontinue a feature I (and apparently many others) completely forgot existed... how DARE they!
Accolades hopefully being sacrificed to the gaming gods in return for proper Discord integration on PS5.
First time I’ve even heard of this feature tbh.
I’d just like them to add a web browser and the ability to save to usb.
Edit: Also, I really miss the ‘What’s New’ feed from the PS4.
Never used it. I don't play online or see the point to them.
Tried to use them in nba 2k, but was too cumbersome
If it was more integrated into the games themselves, and gave you a moment to do it then sure I would have used it.
But it was always something that required going to the playstation menus to do so. It just wasn't pushed enough all around for me to use or think of in the moment.
I really wish the newsfeed would return on PS5, where you could give likes to friends who won a trophy or player a game for the 1st time!
@get2sammyb Ah, but how many accolades did you give out?
To be honest I completely forgot you could give out accolades. To me what this says is that Sony didn't put enough in to make this feature seem like it should be something we all know and use, I remember hearing about it when I first used my ps5 but that's it.
I don't remember this feature at all. I also rarely play online, so.... yeah. 🤷♂️
I've only ever seen them available in one game and we gave them out lots when playing.
Activity cards next?
@DETfaninATL wow this isnt a thing on ps5? Thats lame. I love taking screenshots and using them as a background
Have had my PS5 for over a year now and this is the first time I've heard of this thing, naturally this news has me flabbergasted and will be tough sleeping tonight.
This was a really great idea. Shame they’re stopping it. But yeah, I found out about it incidentally on Rainbow Six. Haven’t seen it implemented on any other game, which almost had me thinking it was Ubisoft who put it out!
Actually had to rack my brain for a second to remember what those were.
I think I received some from a couple folks months ago, while playing Tsushima Legends, and that was the last time I ever interacted with the feature.
Probably didn't help that I didn't even know how to award an accolade myself. Maybe not figuring it out makes me an idiot, but the UI of something like this should be fool-proof to have any chance of sticking.
@jrt87 I use activity cards as much as possible tbh, gets me into the game so fast
PS5 has lots of iffy new features I never use but I rather they keep trying to innovate and fail than not try. Points are a sure fire hit. It's always good when I get few free months of gamepass for just playing and I'm sure stars will be too as long as the rewards are worthwhile and regular.
I just assumed the games I played didn’t support them, so I never got to use it. Looking forward to what they bring out next.
Personally think the reason people are gaming less is because most adult gamers that grew up on consoles are probably playing switch it’s hard with a family to get time to game on a big screen with kids etc using the tv.
Come on Sony release a new ps portable.
Nice idea but few games ever used it, more support from devs and it might have been successful.
@jrt87 I find the activity cards incredibly useful for mopping up trophies (especially for collectibles that I might have missed) or as a hint if I get stuck, rather than having to stop and look up a guide or You Tube video. Plus, it’s super fast to jump into a game at a particular spot. Only wish more developers implemented them.
I just got a PS5 this week and haven't played anything online yet. I saw the Accolades thing, but I don't even know how they worked. I liked the idea of virtual kudos to throw at people, but I don't play the types of games where they make sense to dispense.
Don't know, don't care. Good bye.
They should have tied them to a tile/card for the game automatically. That way, when you hit the PS button, instead of random trophy tracking nonsense, it could remind you to rate people you recently played with (obviously only in games where that made sense).
I used it in Rainbow Six but had NO clue it was a system level feature at all. I thought it was just something R6 implemented. I quite liked it there.
Multiversus has a similar "toast" feature built right into the game and I actually use it quite often.
I think the general idea has merit. They just completely botched it, which is sort of Sony's MO when it comes to software features.
Oh yeah... I remember these... What are they actually for again...???
I didn't even know how to use them. So how can we use it when we needed a master's degree on how to give one
@Meehanuk_1987 no one is playing ps5 cause the store is full of junk indie games and pay for platinum titles or another something simulator,It's pathetic. If i want to play those titles, it would not be on a current gen gaming console.
@Mikey856 Yeah, activity cards are really handy, especially when wrapping up end game stuff. They not only get you in fast, but can load you into specific areas, depending on the title.
I guess if they’re discontinued down the road we’ll have another wall of miserable comments to look forward to. Half from people who have no idea they exist because they don’t pay attention, and half from people who really want everyone to know how useless they are because they don’t personally use them.
@Amnesiac
Didn't even know accolades existed but those activity cards are really useful to just conveniently pull up a walkthrough if needed instead of having to pull up the solution on my phone or computer.
It was obvious at launch this ‘feature’ wouldn’t last long. Never heard them discussed since till now.
Wish the terrible card system also suffered the same fate.
Maybe it would have seen more use if it was integrated into games and was easier to access?
Jeez Sony, people aren't going to go out of their way to use something that has such little benefit to them.
I heard about them... But I have never seen them. Well I usually play the same online game for many years... Maybe that's why.
@Kelrics90 Exactly, played all kinds of games on my PS5 and have never seen this feature presented to me or have any idea how to access it.
Didn't even know this existed. Lol
For a minute I thought they were stopping these commercial accolade trailers publishers do rewarding the sites giving their games a good ‘score’.
Oh well. The ‘industry’ wouldn’t stop their vested full circle auto promotion 😅
I have only played 1 game that uses accolades......... Battlefield 2042. Too many toxic players that think there carrying the team and think people don't deserve accolades 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I have only 20 accolades total
i have not touched a ps5
@Amnesiac precisely mate! I’m on the endgame of HFW and it’s so easy to get to any mission in the game by using cards, but morons don’t understand this sort of stuff I guess 🤣
Only game I played which I saw it implemented/used was Destruction All-Stars. Gave and received like 20 as there was a menu option at the end of each match to leave an accolade.
Other online games - Ghosts of Tsushima Legends and GT7, I never figured out how to actually utilize them. Pretty rough implementation but I liked the idea.
I got 1 from someone I was trying to get a Trophy with I think & when I got it I thought I'd like to give them 1 to but didn't know how to & if it was from them in the first place I don't know All this Social cr*p is pointless really because all I want to do(& I do) is play brilliant single player games on my PS5 Just clear the PS5 XMB of all this Social p00 & let's get back to the pre-internet days Saying that the PS5 is BRILLIANT anyway & I just can ignore all that p00(+COME ON SONY!!! Stop with all the Social updates & give me the option to back-up my PS5 game saves to USB stick PLEASE!!!)
I never use the accolades system, I don't think I ever use the in-game help system either.
@Carl-G You can backup ps5 game saves on usb, you have to also backup the settings though.
Here's how: https://www.playstation.com/en-id/support/hardware/back-up-ps5-data-USB/
Poor implementation didn't help.. needed to be woven into games in a better way.. but either way not gonna miss the one I have 😁
Never heard of them.
Wouldn’t it be nice to think someone from Sony actually reads these comment’s and work’s out they need to find ways to educate their users.
Makes me wonder what other killer features exist I’ve not heard of. Sounds like a feature for you there PS.
From the games ive played the only that ive seen implement them were back 4 blood.
Never even heard about it and Dont even know how to use them ah well wont be missed
The only accolades I ever received were from random players I was playing Destruction AllStars with. Personally, I appreciate new attempts at things whether they succeed or fail. Keep trying Sony, if you want to make the PS5 more social bring back the "What's New" feed. That's where my social interaction lived on PS4 and died on PS5.
bet it was jim ryan’s stupid idea , i always hated that useless feature that could’ve been put towards anything else instead of something a karen would think of . why isn’t the ps5 features on the same level or more than the ps4’s yet ? will home ever come back ? themes ? web browser ? activity time-line posts and comments ? “live from playstation” ? folders ? facebook ? it’s so ***** barren . .
Same comments as everyone else here, never even knew it existed!
I do feel sorry for the minority that was actively using them though.
The problem is they dont communicate about these things. I never heard about this. If you make a clear it exists how do you want me to use it.
@Bleachedsmiles they should’ve been raised the price, temporarily*, and padded their pockets. Hopefully for better R&D and improvements in software and firmware for the PS5.
*temporily: to combat materials shortage and scalping. Now it should be the retail price. And next year it should go down. But it isn’t.
@Amnesiac I love accolades and sad to see them go because the devs didn’t take the time to fully grasp the PS5 API and SDKs.
The cards are amazing and it’s not our fault people don’t use them. That’s one thing that differentiates my experience from PlayStation and Xbox.
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