(Credit: Sony)
Sony is discontinuing its PlayStation Stars loyalty program only three years after it launched.
The free membership program allowed players to collect rewards, loyalty points, or digital collectibles for playing specific titles and completing certain in-game tasks. Without specifying the reason for the shutdown, Sony said it has decided to refocus its efforts.
“As a company, we are always evolving with player and industry trends,” says Sony executive Grace Chen in a blog post. “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.”
With the announcement, Sony has stopped accepting new members for the program. Even those who cancel their existing membership won’t be allowed back in. Existing members can continue earning rewards until July 23, 2025, at 7:59 a.m. PDT and redeem them before the program fully winds down on Nov. 2, 2026.
Digital collectibles, however, will remain accessible even after the program expires. That doesn’t make them NFTs, though. “You can’t trade them or sell them,” Chen told The Washington Post in 2022. “It is not leveraging any blockchain technologies and definitely not NFTs.”
Per IGN, PlayStation Stars was supposed to rival Xbox Rewards, but neither has quite succeeded in its mission. "We want to thank all of our players for supporting PlayStation Stars since the launch in 2022," Chen concludes in the blog post. "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."