Sony launches PlayStation Stars loyalty program in the Americas

Sony's new loyalty program PlayStation Stars has launched in North and South America. The program, originally announced in July, allows players to earn rewards by completing specific campaigns and activities while playing games. 

With PlayStation Stars, Sony now has its own reward program similar to Microsoft's rewards program for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, and Nintendo's MyNintendo program. Similar to those, Stars members can use digital points to buy PlayStation Store funds or specific digital games. 

Through the PlayStation mobile app and the PlayStation website, players can sign up to be a part of Stars. But it won't be as simple as registering an account.. Some players who've registered have been put on a waitlist lasting at least two months, and members will be continually added on a "rolling basis."

Notably, another reward that players can earn are "rare digital collectibles" that represent the PlayStation brand over the decades. Under another name, these collectibles would be NFTs, which have become gradually controversial due to their environmental impact and growing disinterest from players and developers.

Sony's been quick to shoot down the idea that its collectibles are NFTs under a different name. When Stars was first announced, PlayStation's network advertising VP Grace Chen stressed that players "can't trade them or sell them. It is not leveraging any blockchain technologies and definitely not NFTs."

Another noted perk of PlayStation Stars' four-tier level system is that level four members will receive priority routing when contacting PlayStation customer support.