PlayStation Stars, Sony’s loyalty reward program, is set to receive some major changes, and they’re not the good kind, either.
In case you may have missed it, PlayStation Stars, Sony’s reward program, is set to receive some major changes. Those changes were outlined as part of a larger informational email earlier this week.
According to that email, beginning October 24, the following changes will be made:
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- Any new points earned will expire at the end of the month, plus 12 months from the purchase date.
- Existing points will expire at the end of the month, plus 24 months from the earning date.
Then, beginning on March 1, 2025, another batch of changes will go into effect. They are:
- Eligible purchases will no longer include subscription payments made via the PlayStation Store, including renewals.
Gamers will have to accept these changes to remain a PlayStation Stars member, lest they cancel their “membership,” and lose the points they’ve accrued.
n essence, Sony is battening down the hatches when it comes to ways of earning points. Simply renewing your PlayStation Plus subscription isn’t going to work anymore. More so, Sony is attempting to have gamers use their points more frequently by putting a timeline on them, versus allowing players to stockpile them for better rewards.
These upcoming changes have loyalty members questioning what the point of the program is, and they’re not necessarily wrong, either.
Can’t Things Just Stay The Same
In a Reddit megathread within the official PlayStation Stars subreddit, many fans took issue with the upcoming changes. “Not giving points for PS+ payments is kind of silly. Every other time you spend money on the store you get points, but not for the subscription,” one user wrote. And they’re not wrong. Subscribers will still earn points on their game purchases, but a subscription to PlayStation Plus will no longer count.
Elsewhere, one fan laid out a conundrum that others will certainly face. “Well that suck. I’m already missing out on so many points because I prefer to get physical games, and I can’t see myself keeping track of when my points will expire since without PS Plus renewal, I will get them even more rarely. It was fun while it lasted, since it launched, I managed to redeem 5 bucks and that’s it,” they wrote.
It’s true that physical purchases do not reward any points, so collectors relied on campaigns (events that reward one-time point deposits) as well as their subscriptions to be able to earn some PSN credit. Moving forward, that’s out the window.
Because points will expire quicker than ever, players will not be able to stockpile them. Beyond monetary rewards, PlayStation Stars also had full games available for redemption, however, unless you’re buying your weight in digital goods, then those will seemingly be out of reach come October.
“Earned reward points should never expire, for anything. It’s a scam that most do, just to get you to spend faster,” one user declared.
Perhaps the most interesting thing moving forward will be if PlayStation Stars survives the long haul. As mentioned above, these changes are reliant on users agreeing to the new terms of service. If enough, decide it’s not worth it, or simply forget to act, then it’s considered a declination either way.
There’s certainly a path where Sony uses that as justification to nix the program altogether. Only time will tell if this loyalty program has a future.
