Sony announced a new loyalty program on Thursday intended to increase player engagement and drive traffic to their Playstation Plus subscription service. Called “Playstation Stars,” the program gives players digital tokens for completing monthly tasks related to playing games on the PS4 and 5, a move the company says is intended to celebrate player loyalty and is also likely an attempt to motivate players to spend more time with games on Playstation consoles specifically.
The company’s first rewards program will let players earn points by completing tasks like playing a game for a certain number of hours or earning achievements. More specific tasks include winning tournaments or being the first player in a given time zone to make Platinum, or 100% completion, for a game. These points can be traded in to a Playstation Network wallet and used to purchase items in Sony’s digital storefront. Playstation Plus members will also receive points just for making purchases on the Playstation Store, in a similar move to Nintendo’s “gold points” on the Eshop.
In their introduction to Stars, Sony noted that in addition to wallet funds, rewards from the Stars program will include “digital collectibles.” These collectibles are “digital representations of things that PlayStation fans enjoy, including figurines of beloved and iconic characters… as well as cherished devices that tap into Sony’s history of innovation.” The company quickly clarified that the collectibles are not NFTs, but simply digital representations of notable Playstation properties. While plenty of games companies have touted their use of NFTs, their recent precipitous fall in value might have further prompted Sony’s distancing their new collectibles from the phenomenon, though it’s not clear yet what exactly these digital items are.
The Stars program will roll worldwide later this year, though no specific release date has been announced.