PlayStation Stars is one of Sony’s most bizarre initiatives of the PlayStation 5 era. The program lets you earn coins that can be used to purchase games on PSN, as well as collect virtual figurines that can only be viewed in the PlayStation app. And the whole thing has been broken since early June.
If you’re a normal person, you’re probably wondering what the heck PlayStation Stars even is. Assuming you forgot or were never aware of it, like apparently most PlayStation players at this point, the program was a revamp of PlayStation Rewards that launched in 2022. Players could earn coins for purchasing games or completing “campaigns” that asked them to play certain types of games in exchange for tailor-made collectibles. These would be added to a virtual bookshelf ranging from callbacks to the platform’s history to brand crossovers like Spider-Man Adidas.
Still, it’s a nice way to earn cashback that eventually adds up. We initially noticed problems around June 6when PlayStation Stars, which can be accessed via a small icon on the home screen of the PlayStation mobile app, would not open. Instead, players were greeted with an error message: “PlayStation Stars is currently experiencing issues. Our engineers are aware of the issue and are working on a solution.”
The timing was particularly odd because Sony was running a series of PlayStation Stars promotions alongside its Play Days mid-year sales event, meaning there were certain collectibles and prizes that could only be earned by purchasing and playing certain games during the event. According to PlayStation SupportUsers would continue to collect points and collectibles even if the program were down, but they would not be able to see any of it, let alone track what was still incomplete.
25 days later, the program is still broken. As users in the PlayStation Stars subreddit have predictedthat’s more than the 23-day outage PSN suffered in 2011 following an unprecedented hacker attack. During that time, PS3 players couldn’t play games online, buy them digitally, or use the console’s social features. After the service was restored, Sony apologized by giving players free games and a free month of PS Plus.
PlayStation Stars hasn’t been hacked, doesn’t cost money, and is used by far fewer people, so the outage is hardly a scandal in the bigger picture. It’s just very odd, and Sony hasn’t yet clarified what exactly the problem is or when the rewards program will be up and running again. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Update 02.07.2024 12:39 ET: And just as mysteriously as the outage began, the PlayStation Stars service is returning in several countries and regions. ““PlayStation Stars will soon return in phased regional rollouts,” an update The PlayStation website states: “Thank you for your patience and we look forward to welcoming you back.”
It’s still unclear why the service went down in the first place, or what Sony was ultimately able to fix. It will be time to see if all the rewards and collectibles are where they left them, and if PlayStation Stars will be releasing any replacement products to commemorate the occasion.
