It didn’t shine for very longSony is shutting down the PlayStation Stars loyalty scheme for PS4 and PS5 and it’s already stopped taking new members. After significantly downgrading the service in 2024, Sony has done the inevitable and announced that the PlayStation Stars loyalty programme is to be closed, after just three years. The service allowed you to earn points by buying and playing games, which could be used as discounts for various PlayStation products, including games. However, you needed to earn thousands in order to get a full-priced game and that became even harder when Sony tightened the rules last year. Although fine in theory, PlayStation Stars was never very well promoted and Sony seemed to quickly lose interest in it. But while it’s now in the process of being shuttered they have promised to replace it with something better. ‘Since launching the programme, 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,’ reads the annoucement 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 programme and are looking into ways to build upon these learnings.’ Starting immediately, PlayStation Stars will not accept any new members and if you cancel your membership now you’ll lose all your points, no matter how many you have. Members will still be able to spend their credits and level up their status, but only until July 23 at 3.59pm BST. After that there will be no new rewards or status benefits, with the whole service shutting down completely on November 2, 2026. More Trending Whether the PlayStation Stars name will be kept in the future is unknown. It’s also unclear whether the replacement will be up and running before the current one closes down, as it’s a long wait until next November. The programme’s brief lifespan may have been the result of the collapse of the NFT market, which it initially seemed like PlayStation Stars had been designed for. The digital collectibles are not NFTs though and cannot be traded or sold, but some suspect that was the initial idea, before Sony thought better of it. ‘We want to thank all of our players for supporting PlayStation Stars since the launch in 2022. As we explore new ways to evolve our loyalty program efforts for the future, we’ll continue to celebrate all of our players through the various community activities we have planned,’ is the only other thing Sony has to say on the matter. How many will morn the end of PlayStation Stars?Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy #playstation #stars #loyalty #programme #closing