Sony has announced the discontinuation of its PlayStation Stars loyalty program, which launched less than three years ago. As of today, the program is no longer accepting new members, and any current members who cancel their membership will find their reward points permanently deleted, with no chance to rejoin. However, existing members can continue to earn points until July 23, 2025, and have until November 3, 2026, to redeem any remaining balance.
Despite the program's end, Sony has confirmed that PlayStation Stars' Digital Collectibles will remain accessible for the foreseeable future. This means fans can still enjoy their 3D digital models, such as the Jim Ryan bobblehead, for a good while longer.Grace Chen, PlayStation's vice president of network advertising, loyalty, and licensed merchandise, stated on the PlayStation blog, "Since launching the program, 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. Through this evaluation, we have decided to refocus our efforts and will be winding down the current version of PlayStation Stars. We will continue to evaluate our key findings from this program, and are looking into ways to build upon these learnings."
Sony did not mention any plans for a replacement scheme, leaving it unclear what specific insights they gained from running PlayStation Stars.
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Launched in July 2022, PlayStation Stars aimed to reward PS5 owners by offering points with real cash value for purchases made on the PlayStation Store, as well as for completing tasks such as surveys, trying out new games, or exploring system features. The program was designed to compete with Microsoft's Xbox Rewards, though both loyalty schemes have evolved over time, becoming less lucrative for participants.
Last summer, PlayStation Stars faced a month-long service disruption. Later, in October, Sony made several changes to the program, including reducing the point expiration period from 24 months to 12 months and removing PlayStation Plus membership from the list of points-eligible purchases. Now, the entire PlayStation Stars program is being phased out completely.
