Sony launched a new PlayStation Stars loyalty program later this year, which includes the benefits of “Digital Collectibles”. PlayStation Stars is a free service that allows PlayStation players to earn loyalty points and rewards by completing activities. Points can be redeemed for benefits such as the PSN Wallet Fund used to purchase games.
“Points are available in catalogs that include PSN wallet funds and some PlayStation Store products,” explains Grace Chen, Sony’s Vice President of PlayStation Network Advertising, Loyalty, and Licensed Products. “As an additional benefit, PlayStation Plus members registered on PlayStation Stars will automatically earn points for purchases made on the PlayStation Store.”
Sony also bundles “digital collectibles” as part of PlayStation Stars. It may sound like an NFT right away, but it’s not. The company doesn’t mention blockchain or NFT in its blog post, Washington postThe company has made it clear that it does not utilize blockchain technology and does not utilize NFTs.
Instead, these collectibles are digital representations of PlayStation game figures and iconic characters, and may even be digital versions of historic Sony devices.
There are new collectibles that can be earned on a regular basis, including “super rare” ones. Sony describes these collectibles as rewards, so it doesn’t seem like they can be purchased directly. PlayStation players can earn key loyalty points through challenges, such as monthly challenges where players must play any game to earn rewards. Sony does not elaborate on how the collection will be rewarded.
The PlayStation Stars loyalty points system seems to be very similar to Microsoft’s proprietary rewards program for Xbox players and Nintendo’s Gold Points. Microsoft Rewards includes quests, activities, and monthly surveys to earn points. Reward points are also available when using Bing and Microsoft Edge browsers. Nintendo Gold Points can be earned when a player purchases a new game and uses it for digital purchases on Nintendo Switch.
