PlayStation Stars was Sony’s bizarre overhaul of its existing loyalty program aimed at rewarding players with not just points they could put toward purchases of digital games but also with collectibles they could display on a virtual shelf. It was a neat idea implemented in the worst way possible, and now Sony is killing it.
As of May 21, 2025, PlayStation Stars won’t accept any new members and anyone who leaves the program won’t be able to rejoin. Then on July 23, 2025, all PlayStation Stars Campaigns, additional rewards, and existing benefits will cease. The program will formally end on November 2, 2026, at which point any remaining points fans may have will be wiped out.
“Since launching the program, we’ve learned a lot from evaluating the types of activities our players respond best to, and as a company, we are always evolving with player and industry trends,” Sony’s Grace Chen wrote on the PlayStation Blog. “Through this evaluation, we have decided to refocus our efforts and will be winding down the current version of PlayStation Stars. We will continue to evaluate our key findings from this program, and are looking into ways to build upon these learnings.”
Don’t worry, though; any collectibles PlayStation Stars members have earned will remain on their virtual shelves, at least until the app, which will presumably no longer be updated, eventually stops working on modern smartphones. People who spent actual money on the collectibles which launched amid the NFT craze are understandably pissed. What a waste.
It’s not a shock that Sony is pulling the plug. Almost no PlayStation 4 or PS5 players really seemed to use PlayStation Stars, despite being able to get 4 percent back on purchases on the PlayStation Store. The biggest issue was that no aspect of the program was integrated directly into the console experience. You couldn’t access your quests for earning more points or show off your collectibles on PS4 or PS5.
When the entire program when down for a month last year no one batted an eye, which is a shame really. The PlayStation ecosystem used to be one of the more robust on console but has been lagging behind both Xbox and Switch in some ways in recent years (Game Pass has quests and Switch now has game sharing). For the amount of time (and money) players spend on PS5, they deserve a version of PlayStation Stars that’s actually good.
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