Sony's latest State of Play featured a wealth of different game showcases, but also the official reveal of the all-new PlayStation Stars loyalty program. Designed as a way for players to engage with the community and Sony's own PS infrastructure, Stars is going to provide a slew of different benefits to users who make use of its features, not least of which are the new digital collectibles.
Namely, the PlayStation interface will integrate Stars in a way that seems rather comprehensive and all-encompassing, and the feature should be launching sometime later this year. Users will be provided with a list of objectives and so-called "Campaigns," the completion of which will reward them points (which can be redeemed for PSN wallet funds and even PS Store products) and unique digital collectibles, such as figurines, console replicas, and more. These collectibles can then be shown off on a user's PS profile page, making them a fun addition to the mix.
The obvious expectation is that PlayStation Stars will make trophy hunting exciting again, as players will now have an opportunity to earn rare and coveted digital collectibles. In fact, it has been suggested that some of these collectibles may be effectively unique, as the first player to receive the Platinum trophy in select games may receive a special reward that won't be accessible in any other way. These rewards may, however, end up being dependent on the local timezone, making them a tiny bit less exclusive in the grand scheme of things.
PlayStation Stars was shown off as one of the primary September 2022 State of Play showcases and seems to be getting built up as the headlining new console feature of the year. While the premise of earning unique digital collectibles may not sound overly exciting by default, achievement hunters are a very dedicated bunch, and Sony is bound to draw a great number of them in by leaning into this approach.
Naturally, whether PlayStation Stars ends up panning out or not will depend entirely on how much support Sony provides for the feature. Mentioned collectibles include the 3D models of the PocketStation, Polygon Man, and Ape Escape 2's Punto character, for example, but Sony will need to continuously release more of these collectibles to keep the player base intrigued. Otherwise, Stars may end up repeating the mistakes of PS5's Accolades feature.
Broadly speaking, PlayStation Stars feels like it may be Sony's response to the Microsoft Rewards feature for the Xbox that received a scoring update early in 2022. It's an inventive and interesting feature, to be sure, and one that could very well entice players to engage with the PlayStation ecosystem in different ways. With timed profile cosmetics in place, for example, it's easy to imagine community members racing to complete the relevant objective as soon as possible for bragging rights, but the feature's specific implementation remains to be seen.
Source: PlayStation