By name PlayStation Stars the new loyalty programme will be free to join and people will be able to earn points by playing games and making purchases from PlayStation Store. You'll still be able to redeem the points you earn for various actions, including PSN purchases and specific PS Store products.
According to Sony, the "Monthly Check-in" program will soon be launched, allowing gamers to earn a reward for playing any game. Sony plans to offer rewards to those who win tournaments and earn certain trophies. The first player for example to win a platinum trophy for a specific game in their time zone will also earn a reward.
However, one aspect of PlayStation Stars caused a stir on social media for a while as Sony said in the announcement that it would offer "digital collectibles" as a reward. These are "digital representations of things PlayStation fans enjoy, such as small figures of iconic characters from games and other forms of entertainment, as well as favourite devices that leverage Sony's history of innovation".
The uproar caused was about the possibility that these "digital collectibles" might be NFTs, which is not the case. "They are definitely not NFTs. Definitely not," said Washington Post Grace Chen, vice president of Sony Interactive Entertainment. "You can't trade them or sell them. It doesn't leverage any blockchain technology and they are definitely not NFTs," Chen further clarified.
PlayStation Stars follows similar loyalty offers from Microsoft and Nintendo. Microsoft's program, now called Microsoft Rewards, has been around for many years, but has not been offered in Greece. Along with earning points by playing Xbox, users can earn them additional points by searching for something on Bing, or by making product purchases from specific online stores.
Similarly in the Nintendo camp, gamers can earn My Nintendo Gold Points by making purchases from the company's eShop and by performing well in various tournaments. Nintendo Gold Points can be used for discounts on Switch games and by completing various actions, gamers can earn Platinum Points which can be redeemed for a range of rewards.
Sony says it will roll out the PlayStation Stars loyalty programme over time and is currently testing the programme, planning to launch it in phases starting in the autumn. More details are expected to be revealed in the coming months.
