PlayStation Stars, the loyalty program that Sony rolled out in 2022 largely as a way to reward regular players with digital collectibles and very occasional game redemptions, is "winding down."
In a new post on the PlayStation Blog, Grace Chen, vice president of network advertising, loyalty, and licensed merchandise, says "we’ve learned a lot from evaluating the types of activities our players respond best to, and as a company, we are always evolving with player and industry trends."
Chen specifies that "the current version" of PlayStation Stars is coming to an end, but when or how it or a similar program may return is unclear, so it's a de facto shuttering. "Starting today, PlayStation Stars will no longer accept new members for this version of the program," the post adds.
Just to make it clearer, if you cancel your PlayStation Stars membership from today onward, you'll lose any points you've earned, as "it will not be possible to rejoin this version." PlayStation Stars as we know it is dead.
Current members "can still earn Digital Collectibles, Points and level up their status" until July 23, 2025, but your account will seemingly be timelocked after that. The whole program will "fully end" on November 2, 2026, so you have until then to spend your points.
As demonstrated by its impending shutdown, PlayStation Stars was sometimes seen as a bit underwhelming. Digital collectibles like avatars and trophies did little to wow some fans, perhaps because – and don't tell the gacha players I said this – digital collections are inherently impermanent and lack tangible satisfaction. The rewards were just kind of... there.
Some people also balked at the idea that high-level users, who would have leveled up by spending more cash on "full" games and earning rare trophies, could get priority in customer support. I can understand catering to your biggest fans, but I also understand why the sentiment wrinkled some noses. The PlayStation Stars FAQ still notes that "Level 4 Members in select countries will have the added benefit of Priority routing to our chat support team."
On the rewards side, PlayStation Stars could be an extremely slow burn. It sounds good on paper, and you could genuinely get some decent stuff out of it, but a meaningful freebie required a lot of points.
Several high-profile PlayStation games, like the rock-solid action RPG Stellar Blade and year-defining hit Helldivers 2, were up for grabs as redeemable rewards, but would require roughly $1,750 worth of accrued points.
Because points expired after two years, which was later changed to one year, you also had to spend that much money in a fairly short window. PlayStation has always been my first-pick console, and I don't spend anywhere near that much in Sony's ecosystem.
Even on the lower end, newer games could easily require over $1,000 spent. A free game is a free game if you were gonna spend that money anyway, but free games felt like a pretty small part of the program, and I think some folks expected a little something more.
"As we explore new ways to evolve our loyalty program efforts for the future, we’ll continue to celebrate all of our players through the various community activities we have planned," Chen concludes. "The programs we create are all inspired by you, and we look forward to bringing you compelling new experiences for many generations to come."
Sony is prioritizing monthly active users over direct sales now, but the company's live-service games aren't doing too hot.
