Sony has announced that it is pulling the plug on the PlayStation Stars program. According to the official announcement statement, the program is being “wound down” so the company can refocus its efforts based on user engagement and industry trends. Starting today, no new members can join. If you cancel your membership now, you’re out for good, and you’ll lose all your earned points. Current users can continue earning digital collectibles, points, and rank up their level until July 23, 2025. After that, all campaigns and new reward opportunities stop. The entire thing shuts down completely on November 2, 2026. Players will still be able to view their digital collectibles and redeem any unexpired points until then.
Originally introduced in 2022, PlayStation Stars was Sony’s attempt to reward loyal players with points, digital collectibles, and a sense of progression just for doing what they were already doing—playing games. On paper, it sounded like a win. But in reality, it hasn’t exactly been a smooth ride. Between lackluster rewards, confusing rollout phases, limited visibility on what you could do with your points, and a month-long outage in June 2024, the program never fully found its footing.
While it’s nice that Sony gave a long lead time and didn’t yank the service overnight, the way this is being handled raises questions. If they truly planned to sunset the program, why not wait until they had a new one in place? Or at least give players an idea of what’s coming next? Right now, it feels like Sony is quietly sweeping it under the rug with no plan in sight. Honestly, that comes off as pretty anti-consumer.
PlayStation Stars wasn’t groundbreaking, but it had potential. It gave fans something extra for sticking with the platform and engaged with the nostalgia angle through its digital collectibles. It just never got the support or refinement it needed. And now, instead of improving it or transitioning to something better, Sony is just walking away.
Sony has said it is taking what they’ve learned and might build something new in the future—but that’s just corporate-speak for “we’ll see.” Vague promises don’t go far, and players deserve more than silence and shutdowns. So for now, all we can do is wait and see. Maybe Sony really is cooking up something better. Or maybe this is just another example of how they continue to miss the mark when it comes to keeping their community engaged. Hopefully, we’ll find out before PlayStation Stars officially goes offline.
