Ben-DutkaMaybe that's why they have beta tests. Or maybe there's another reason we won't be rewarded for our PlayStation-related efforts in April.
Several readers have sent us an e-mail they recently received from the PlayStation Network. It thanks them for participating in the PlayStation Rewards Beta, which is scheduled to end this week in March 31. But based on the results of this test, it seems the new Rewards system has been delayed until further notice:
"Based on what we learned, we have decided the program is not ready to roll out to the public in April as originally planned. But rest assured, we will continue to thank loyal and devoted customers like you with innovative offerings."
That's disappointing, but Sony tries to compensate by sending out "a special and exclusive PlayStation T-shirt" to all those who reach Select, Pro or Legendary status by the beta end date. …okay, that's not the kind of Reward we were hoping for, but at least we won't get a broken program. As many have stated in the past, this is the kind of thing that will make Sony fans even happier to call themselves PlayStation followers.
We'll let you know when they decide to issue an update.
Nice, a rewards program for what? For buying PSN games or just playing disc based or PSN games? I like the idea because I am on my PS3 every day would benefit from something like this. My guess is that every 100 hours you put in on your PS3 you get like $5.00 in your wallet or something like that. I hope they continue with this program and flesh it out.
buying stuff on the store, playing new bluray games (although their definition of new is vague, my guess release week window for games), and quests (which no matter how much i do, never updates my status). if you were really paying attention to the service then you'd be pissed that stuff didnt update.
I was in the PlayStation Rewards beta and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt…
lol
…a second lol
Money men… it still makes me shake my head… anything to squeeze another dollar from strained wallets…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
There will always be cheaters, I bet some found a way to duplicate codes and such.
Hopefully they find a way to fix these issues.
I meant generate… Kinda like how you can generate codes for photoshop, etc.
I bought a PlayStation and I've been rewarded with GT5 & KZ3. I don't wanna be greedy.
Now that is a very good reward! 🙂
Its better than the shirt i got,
"Mommy f***ed the mailman and all I got was this lousy T-shirt"
jk
Yeah I got this email from Playstation Rewards, I got to pro on playstation rewards and I got some neat stuff from the program. But I wasn't totally satified with the program. I mean you only get a dynamic theme and then avatars for your username so it was ok. I wanted them to give me a free game or like give me like 10$ but they wouldn't do that. Still they were nice to me and they are sending me a playstation t-shirt which I'll be wearing lol. So in all, it's not a bad a program. I just wish they would reward us a little more.
I like the program but I felt it could offer more in terms of rewards. It was kinda of a awkward set up though. You can level up just by completing task but in the end the reward received kind of made me feel like it was pointless..well at least some of the things you could do to level up..It's good they're holding off b/c Plus is holding it down thus far
i bet they scrap it altogether. over in ps forums it does not look like many were impressed with it.
Did you fill out any of the surveys? If you did, then you should remember the questions asking you about some of the rewards they had in mind. Some would have been overly generous in my opinion.
people were pissed that no matter what they did your ps rewards status never updated.
I like the idea of getting more Avatars. I wish you could make your own Avatars. There just aren't enough on the store. Only certain games get them. When I am into a new game like Crysis 2 I like to change my PSN Avatar to something that has to with that game. I hope they expand on this in the future.
Owning a PS3 is reward enough 🙂
…wow that was cheesy.
"It ain't easy being cheesy." :p
Well, I will await my T-shirt patiently….
I think the problem with the program was that they were trying to make something that would reward customer loyalty, but in the end it really amounted to a gimmick that rewarded you for incredibly mundane things like clicking through emails to Sony's websites, or downloading demos from PSN. If you want to have a rewards program, I think it's better to base it off your PSN and retail purchases. Give me a point per $ spent on Playstation games or accessories and then let me spend those reward points in PSN at some notional exchange rate, say 100 points = $1 to spend in the store.
At least then I know that my loyalty is rewarded. They could have specific promotions granting double reward points on particular items or even for completing particular challenges like they were already doing in the beta program.
The Beta program felt like someone was trying to figure out whether people would modify their behavior slightly in order to gain a possible reward. For example, downloading demos which would of course mean you were spending more time looking at possible purchases. You'd be rewarded by the activity, but I'm sure that the marketing hats behind the scheme hoped that by driving more demo downloads, they'd drive more game purchases.
We'll see though, I expect that they'll bring this back in the future as some kind of thing to give all PSN users a perk for their loyalty. Whatever they do, they need to be careful not to take away from the perceived value of PlayStation Plus.
interesting you use the phrase "perceived value".
After reading his entire post, that's all you picked up on? Talk about missing the point…
hey, i'm a happy plus member, and just noted it was interesting phrase to me. i always read highlanders posts thoroughly becuase they are probably the best on here. maybe, what he means sony would not like this competing with psn plus. maybe, i read too much in perceived value. i think there is real value in plus just for the early access to betas. and discounts.
i probably did miss the point.
Last edited by Excelsior1 on 3/29/2011 12:24:35 PM
Perceived value. That is the value that your perception allows you to feel you gain from something.
So, let's examine the sentence, in context shall we?
"Whatever they do, they need to be careful not to take away from the perceived value of PlayStation Plus. "
To expand that thought for you;
Whatever Sony do to reward customer loyalty the need to be careful that whatever they do does not offer sufficient value for free that is detracts from the value offered by the Playstation Plus program. My perception (definition : The ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.) of PlayStation Plus is that if offered tremendous value both because of the straight free content and discounts, but also the early access to certain things and exclusive access to certain content. That is the percieved value I take from Playstation Plus.
to that end, if Playstation Rewards, or something like it, offered perks for free to everyone that detracted from my perception of the value I gain from paying for Playstation Plus, it would damage PlayStation Plus.
In other words, PlayStation rewards does not need to step on Playstation Plus' toes.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 3/29/2011 12:22:19 PM
understood. crystal clear. i kind of thought that's what you meant. that makes me think that they will probably just ditch it, unless they find a way to implement it without stepping on the toes of ps plus. it is a pickle, i guess.
No problem, I used the phrase "perceived value", but wasn't considering the usual interpretation of that phrase to imply that something has no intrinsic value and only has perceived value. I should have been clearer in my original post as I was referring to the real, intrinsic, value of Plus. So the phrase 'perceived value' probably conveyed the wrong message.
Nintendo did exactly that!
You could enter your game's serial codes and you'd get rewards.
Was pretty cool
i kept buying new games and participated in quests. how was my loyalty rewarded? games not counting or status not updating.
If it's not ready, I am glad Sony is making sure it's not moving past the Beta stage.
I had only heard about this program recently and I think it's a neat idea, but if they decide to go ahead with it, they are going to have to find a way to balance it with plus like Highlander said.
If however they found a way to perhaps put money in our wallet as we were to level up, I think that could work for everyone. Non plus member would eventually be able to purchase things, but plus members would be able to purchase some things quicker since they get discounts on all types of things.
Well, at least they're not rushing out a broken product a la M$.
I for one am glad they shut it down seen as they decided people in europe/pal regions werent good enough to be involved
sad about this , ill be happy when i get my shirt!
I'll take the free t-shirt. It's not likely I'll see anyone else with one. I almost made it to legendary.
i been stuck on 9/10ths select. played a bunch of new games and quests, especially killzone 3 and yakuza 4, and that damn bar is still stuck.
This is a drag. I was really looking forward to the Playstation Rewards Program to unveil itself and go LIVE. I feel that Playstation might have been overwhelmed by the potential of how many gamers can easily rank up and take advantage of their gaming contribution.
They probably freaked out and realized that they can't possibly follow through on their promise to deliver certain rewards to EVERYONE. If they are making some adjustments, I believe it is towards the ranking system and towards the rewards one receives.
i just got the email a bit ago. i think it is sweet im getting a free t shirt. cant wait to get it. as for the program it self it seemed to be tied to the money spent more than anything. having little quests to complete was kind of amusing but just didnt have enough to it. overall i really wanted this program to launch and be something cool. i hope they figure out what they dont like and actually do launch this.
Last edited by frylock25 on 3/29/2011 8:43:57 PM
I'm not surprised its not releasing. the feature itself is great but they screwed up on implementation. i played more than 5 new games and a bunch of quests in a month and my status bar never updated since i was first promoted to select. i think their idea of "new" game is one played the week of release. i played yakuza 4 past that initial week and it still not counted. unless they can accurately figure out what games were bought new then us guys that wait for a price drops wont even matter to ps rewards even if we buy games new.
is it a real tshirt or a home tshirt because with my luck they'll send me the smallest size.
Last edited by johnld on 3/29/2011 10:14:28 PM
wonder how much this has to do with the new SNE branding!
My biggest complaint with this beta is apparently I don't get a size selection for my t-shirt. Seriously, even though it was just an avatar or theme, we were getting something for nothing. I just don't often complain about things that come free. The program was far from perfect but that's what betas are for.