As the world sits on the cusp of receiving next-generation consoles, official information on Sony's PlayStation 5 website is still sparse. While anticipation for the PS5 continues to build, today PlayStation's Vice President of Global Marketing Mary Yee announced a "PlayStation Player Celebration" to commemorate over 100 million people creating "life-long memories" on the PlayStation 4.
Yee's post to the PlayStation blog details a community-driven event in which players can earn prizes by achieving milestone goals in playing as many games and earning as many Trophies as possible until March 15, 2020. In order to participate, players can sign up with their PSN IDs now at the PlayStation website in order to begin accruing points on February 24.
Based on the guidelines, people playing any individual game for at least one hour total counts toward the "games played" goal, but Trophy earning is limited to six per day — with multiplayer Trophies each counting as two. The event's first goal asks the PlayStation community to play 125,000 games and earn 500,000 Trophies, and the following two goals will open as each is completed.
Every participant will receive exclusive PS4 themes and PSN avatars if the goals are met, but two individuals who enter the event and answer a "skill-based question" at the Player Celebration webpage on March 17, 2020 have the chance to win a real-life engraved Platinum Trophy, a $100 PlayStation Store voucher, and voucher codes for a number of games. The community-wide themes and avatars are very in-line with previous giveaways from Sony, such as the 2019 Wrap-Up theme handed out last month.
Sony's PS4 is the second most popular home console of all time behind the PlayStation 2, according to a Fortune article published in January. The PlayStation 4 has sold at least 106 million units since launching in 2013 alongside Microsoft's Xbox One as part of the eighth console generation.
As far as showing appreciation for a player base goes, there are definitely worse things a company like Sony could do than ask people to simply play more video games. This community contest seems like a good way to give back, and focusing its announcement on the PlayStation blog makes sense given the recent decision to shut down official PlayStation forums.
At the very least, the PlayStation Player Celebration is a fun way to send off the PS4, as gamers prepare to get their hands on next-generation hardware. The PlayStation 5 is supposedly fixing some PlayStation 4 issues, so it'll be interesting to see how the new console will stack up to its predecessor's success.
Source: PlayStation Blog, Fortune