PlayStation Stars is out, and PlayStation Franchise Rewards is in. However, this isn’t a shift that’s being welcomed by everyone, with many irate players deeming it a downgrade.
What Are PlayStation Franchise Rewards?
In short, it’s a system wherein if players earn specific trophies in games by certain deadlines, they’re able to buy merchandise.
This is something that’s going to begin with Ghost of Tsushima and its upcoming October 2nd sequel, Ghost of Yotei, but will presumably be brought to other games if the initial rollout is successful.
PlayStation Franchise Rewards Controversy
Aside from any comparisons to Sony’s previous reward systems, a lot of the contention around this new system is that it doesn’t really offer the player anything at all – other than the chance to spend money on merchandise.
Not only is the merchandise itself not free, but you’ll have to pay for the shipping costs on top of that. This practice isn’t necessarily new, and it’s something that Bungie incorporated for players of its Destiny franchise – though that was also not without controversy.
The system that this replaced, PlayStation Stars, was originally conceived as a rival for a similar program operated by Microsoft – Xbox Rewards.
It operated under a similar logic, where players could earn points that had cash-value in the PlayStation store, so that they could then be used in place of money to buy games.
PlayStation Stars was retired in May, with the announcement citing industry trends as cause for optimisation. Swapping out the ability to potentially get games for free for the ability to pay for merchandise is failing to be a hit with those who were fond of the previous effort.
Sony’s Wider Strategy
This isn’t the first time that audiences have had misgivings about the direction that Sony has taken with their strategy.
Their infamous efforts to focus the majority of their games around the live-service model resulted in more failures than successes, even if the latter did oversee titles like Helldivers 2. However, with Sony cancelling two of its live-action commitments to that plan, it was unclear what their new strategy would be with their first-party games.
While Franchise Rewards doesn’t seem to be a major focus in any way, it does seem like an attempt to get more money out of their single-player titles in a way that is in-keeping with the live-service mentality.
