Gamers have discovered that one of the PlayStation Stars digital rewards requires a massive amount of storage space to unlock, which may prove particularly troublesome for owners of the PS5 Digital Edition. Announced in July and going live on October 5, the PlayStation Stars loyalty program has so far proven to be fairly popular with owners of Sony’s consoles, giving them a chance to earn fun and very enticing rewards.
PlayStation Stars is aptly being compared to Microsoft Rewards, as both programs gift active members with prizes for their participation. Sony’s program gives players a variety of quests to complete in order to unlock a range of goodies, including points that can be redeemed to make purchases from the PlayStation catalog or add funds to their PSN wallet. Players can also unlock digital collectibles, which can then be displayed on a virtual shelf as a kind of trophy.
One of the collectibles that players can earn is called the Sony Chord Machine, a reproduction of a real-life portable boombox released by Sony in 1982. In order to obtain the machine, however, users must complete the PlayStation Stars Hit Play/1994 challenge, which requires solving six riddles and then launching the games that correspond to the answers. However, downloading and installing the six titles will consume approximately 297 gigabytes of space on the PS5.
All of these games are included with a PlayStation Plus Extra subscription, so many people may have at least a couple already installed on their hard drives. However, considering the PS5 only comes with about 667 GB of actual usable space, much of that is probably taken up by other titles. So excepting those gamers who own physical copies of the games, completing the Hit Play/1994 challenge may require a lot of downloading, installing, and then uninstalling, which may be double the headache for those with internet data caps.
Luckily, as of writing, gamers have 33 days remaining to complete the Hit Play/1994 challenge, meaning that Sony provided well over a month for users to earn the Sony Chord Machine collectible. Accessing the PlayStation Stars challenges requires signing in using the PlayStation app, and Sony has opted not to provide a way for people to participate via desktop. It’s important to start the challenge via the PS app before launching any of the games or it may not count towards completion.
The PlayStation Stars program so far has been successful in drawing gamers to the PS app and to engage with the community. The range of rewards that can be earned, which include entire games like Cult of the Lamb and It Takes Two, will hopefully be varied and interesting enough to keep players coming back.