The brand-new PlayStation Stars loyalty program marks a new approach from Sony towards the console's player base, with fans now able to directly link game time to tangible rewards that cover an array of different possibilities. While these potential rewards have impressed many fans, the question remains about how some of them should be best displayed to increase their value and the desire behind unlocking them.
Many of the rewards that come from the PlayStation Stars program are centered around being displayed, yet there is currently no real hub in which fans could do this in an engaging way. Due to this, many have looked towards a reboot of something like the old PlayStation Home social hub, to satisfy long-term PS fans and provide a proportionate environment to display certain rewards.
The Basics of PlayStation Stars
PlayStation Stars is a new loyalty program that is free to join for any PlayStation user with online account capabilities. Many have already likened the system to the Microsoft Rewards service, with players being able to complete certain 'objectives' across different titles to earn points which can be in turn exchanged for a variety of attractive rewards.
Points are either earned through the completion of quests that are tied to certain games or are earned with purchases from the PlayStation Store. In terms of the rewards for PlayStation Stars, players can choose to exchange points for store credit, gain permanent access to a selection of constantly updated titles, or unlock digital collectibles.
These digital collectibles are the crux of the debate around how PlayStation Stars rewards should be best showcased, being a limitless selection of virtual trophies that contain references to over 25 years of beloved PlayStation content. As well as being unlocked through points, these trophy collectibles are some of the most frequent rewards for the completion of the service's different campaigns.
A Potential Reboot of PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home was an ambitious social hub for PS consoles that ran from 2008 until 2015. A 3D social space in which PlayStation users could create detailed and deeply customizable avatars and interact in a variety of settings, many argue that PlayStation Home was ahead of its time. With the advent of much more capable hardware on more contemporary generations of consoles, the prospect of what a rebooted version of PlayStation Home could look like is a fascinating one.
Not only could a rebooted version of Home reignite a sense of community involvement and engagement on PlayStation, it would also tie in perfectly with the recently launched PlayStation Stars program. As well as featuring avatars and public spaces, PlayStation Home prided itself on providing players with personal spaces that they could upgrade and fully customize.
While these personal places were of little practical utility in the original PlayStation Home, they could be the perfect medium to showcase PlayStation Stars rewards in a reboot. For example, rooms within a player's home could be purely dedicated to spaces for displaying Stars' many digital collectibles, providing a more tangible place for showcasing them than the current option of using the PlayStation app. Along with this, players could be allowed to browse each other's campaign progression, and even have walls dedicated to showcasing which games a player has earned access to via PlayStation Stars points.
The PlayStation Stars service is a great addition to the online PS experience, but it remains that many of the collectible-related rewards that the service offers are currently without a sensible space to display them. This can easily be rectified with an ambitious reboot of the PlayStation Home service, satiating fans across an array of different PlayStation eras.