PlayStation announced a new loyalty programme in mid-2022, that should make it even more engaging to use PlayStation consoles and services over time – PlayStation Stars.
The service has launched in Asia, with release dates imminent in the rest of the world, so we’ve got all the key details about it, right here.
What is PlayStation Stars?
PlayStation Stars is a new loyalty programme that Sony is launching, letting PlayStation gamers sign up to earn rewards for completing challenges of various levels of complexity, as a way to engage them further in playing games.
The scheme is separate from PlayStation Plus, Sony’s multiplayer and online platform – you won’t need to be paying for PlayStation Plus to qualify for PlayStation Stars, which is great. You will need to sign up your account, though, as there isn’t any automatic enrolment at this point.
For now, there are no hardware limitations, so you don’t even need a PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 4 to join.
When is PlayStation Stars available?
PlayStation Stars has actually already launched in Asia, including Japan – it came out on 29 September 2022, so if you’re in that area you should check your PlayStation app to see if it’s got a new section to explore and sign up to.
For other territories, Sony has given the release dates below:
North and South America: October 5 (local time)Europe, Australia, and New Zealand: October 13 (local time)
This means that everyone should get access within the next couple of weeks as the service rolls out more widely.
How to join PlayStation Stars
Once the programme has launched in your area, you should be able to sign up for it through the PlayStation app, where it will have a section.
However, you will also be able to do so through the main PlayStation website.
How do I earn rewards on PlayStation Stars?
Stars will offer up regular challenges and missions to take part in, some of which are as simple as playing any game once per month. Others will be more involved, asking you to solve riddles to work out which games you have to play in which order, for example.
Completing missions can earn you a variety of rewards, which you can find out more about down below.
PlayStation says that new campaigns to take part in will be added to Stars pretty regularly, so you should have things to do all the time.
On top of that, you’ll also be assigned one of four Status Levels based on how many games you own and how many trophies you’ve earned in them.
What PlayStations Stars rewards are there?
Sony has detailed three major types of rewards that will be earnable through PlayStation Stars.
The first is the simplest – points that you can spend in the PlayStation Store to get presumably quite small discounts on any games or DLC that you’re buying.
The second is access to actual physical products in the PlayStation Store, which sounds fun.
Finally, the third option consists of digital collectables, assets that are (to be clear) nothing to do with NFTs or blockchain technology. Rather, they’re just cool little digital items that you can look at and enjoy based on your favourite PlayStation franchises.
You’ll be able to display these in a section of the PlayStation app, but they’re not tradeable or in any way redeemable, so they’re just for you to privately enjoy.
How do I redeem my PlayStation Stars points for rewards?
PlayStation Stars is primarily accessed through the PlayStation app on your phone, although a console app will eventually follow.
You can check on your points total, and redeem it for rewards, by opening the app and following the steps below.
In the PlayStation app, hit your profileUnder that menu tap on PlayStation StarsTap on Rewards Catalog
This will let you see all the rewards available to you.
If you’re searching for more to do on your PlayStation 5, check out our list of the best games available on the beefy console.
What are PlayStation Stars
Finally, one quick clarification – PlayStation Stars is simply the name of the loyalty programme. That means you don’t actually earn any currency or reward called “Stars”, at this point.
Hopefully, that clears up some confusion!