Sony has announced a new reward points programme called PlayStation Stars that will allow players to earn points with real cash value.
Announced on the PlayStation Blog, the loyalty programme will begin later this year (though Sony didn’t say when exactly) and will be free to sign up to. Players will be able to complete objectives – with some as simple as playing a game once a month – to earn points that can be later redeemed on the PlayStation Store or for other rewards.
The catalogue of items ” may include PSN wallet funds and select PlayStation Store products,” and members of PlayStation Plus will also receive points for purchasing items on the store, similar to the My Nintendo programme on Switch.
Outside of PlayStation Store related rewards, users can also earn “digital collectibles” that are “digital representations of things PlayStation fans enjoy, including figurines of beloved and iconic characters from games and other forms of entertainment, as well as cherished devices that tap into Sony’s history of innovation.”
Additionally, according to The Washington Post, the first player to get the Platinum trophy in certain games will receive an extra special award, which no one else can get. It’s not clear exactly how this will work – there’s mention of it being within a local time zone, so it could be a territory race for the Platinum rather than a global one – but PlayStation has promised it will crack down on any attempts to get the rewards through fraudulent means.
New collectibles will be added regularly, with Sony stating that some will be particularly rare and something for players to continuously work towards.
The programme will mark another upgrade to Sony’s digital offerings as it recently introduced new PlayStation Plus tiers. While the basic tier is more or less the same as the previous PlayStation Plus, the middle and most expensive tiers offer hundreds of extra games in a service similar to Xbox Game Pass.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
