After killing off its PlayStation Stars reward program earlier this year, Sony has decided to announce a new scheme titled Franchise Rewards program, which offers physical merch in return for your hard work. And your money.
The new program is kicking off with Ghost of Tsushima[1]. Provided you’ve earned the Mono No Aware Gold or Living Legend Platinum Trophies by December 31st, you’ll be given access to “a selection of limited-edition merchandise” via the official website.[2]
Getting the Mono No Aware Trophy unlocks a t-shirt, while the Platinum trophy opens up a fancy pin. If you already have the Trophies unlocked, then you can just log in and will have immediate access to the merch.
Here’s the kicker, though: the t-shirt costs $30 / €33 and the pin is $25 USD / €28. Yes, you have to pay for them. These aren’t rewards for being a massive fan of the game.
The new scheme will be expanded later this year with the addition of Ghost of Yotei[3], which is scheduled to launch on October 2nd. Presumably, if this does well enough, Sony will add more games in the future. A full-sized Leviathan axe would be cool.
Calling this a reward scheme is downright idiotic. I mean, your reward is being able to spend your money to buy something? The merch itself is cool, but I don’t see any real reason to limit it, although I guess for die-hard fans of the games, the t-shirt and pin could be nice extras. But it’s hardly a reward, is it?
Random, though, but I’d love a silly little program where you get a little 3D printed, painted Platinum trophy delivered every time you earn one in a PlayStation exclusive game. Free of charge, of course. I’ve been getting into expanding my Platinum’s, and it would be brilliant to have a little shelf of them sitting beside my PS5.
References
- ^ Ghost of Tsushima (wolfsgamingblog.com)
- ^ via the official website. (ghostrewards.playstation.com)
- ^ Ghost of Yotei (wolfsgamingblog.com)