Your Cart

Sony’s New Policy for Trophies is a Positive Step – Culture of Gaming

The new Sony Rewards programme is great news for US-based PlayStation gamers. Let's look at what trophies will now mean for players and their wallets.

Sony’s New Policy for Trophies is a Positive Step So Earlier today, Sony made a fairly surprising announcement regarding the trophies players earn in-game. It was revealed that a new, US-exclusive rewards system, called ‘Sony Rewards’, would be implemented. Trophies will now have a point value associated to them, which may be spent in the PlayStation Store towards content. The value of trophies according to this system is as follows:

  • 100 silver trophies = 100 points
  • 25 gold trophies = 250 points
  • 10 platinum trophies = 1000 points

This then translates to a monetary dollar value, where 1000 points equates to $10. This isn’t a lot for what’s required, and isn’t going to be saving anyone massive amounts of money anytime soon. However, it’s important to note that this is most definitely a strong step in the right direction for the company.

Trophy Life

Perhaps the greatest, most obvious contribution of this system is what it will mean for trophies as a whole. Instead of being essentially worthless, trophies will now have a tangible value attached to them. This is something that they’ve never had since PSN’s inception in the PS3 era. Now, instead of being virtually meaningless, trophies may potentially motivate more people to engage with them.

It’s important to stress that I realize a great many people enjoy trophy hunting for the sole enjoyment of it. This is something that I can fully appreciate. For many completionists, there can be no greater personal achievement in a game than finally unlocking that platinum they may have put hundreds of hours into. People enjoy games in different ways – that’s how it should be.

 width= width=

However, there is also a large portion of gamers such as myself who have absolutely no interest in them whatsoever. I’m someone who rarely completes games to 100%, mainly because I like to try and keep up with what’s coming out. While I don’t complain when a notification of a received bronze pops up, I don’t exactly jump up and down for joy, either.  I also have very little interest in other players being able to see that I managed to jump two-hundred times in a row. Bragging rights are a complete non-issue for me. So, generally, I place even less importance on trophies than I do on completing every single in-game challenge. From my perspective, I finish a game when I stop having fun with it.

Everyone Loves Money

For people such as myself, this programme has the potential to reverse this ambivalence. Although, not specifically me, as I don’t live in the US – boo. Monetary rewards are something everyone can get behind, and when it’s for simply playing a game, it’s a win-win for everyone. While it may not outright convince people to trophy hunt, it’ll certainly feel like a more worthwhile event to earn one, even by accident. Many will likely accuse Sony of being stingy, but regardless of how small the rewards are, they’re better than the alternative – nothing.

Plus, while games on PlayStation Store are on the whole very expensive, sales are fairly frequent. So too are game-specific discounts. Even if trophy rewards won’t grant vast amounts of money off, an even better discount isn’t exactly something to complain about. What’s more, a whole lot of strong indie and/or mid-tier titles release pretty frequently these days. For games like this, a minor discount will feel much more consequential.

 width= width=

Some out there exclusively buy digitally. It’s still quite a rarity, especially with a home console, as many people prefer physical copies. The knowledge that you yourself own the product is much more reasurring for some than the shady ownership policies related to downloadable games that none of us know or understand. As well as this, the freedom to sell secondhand is something many appreciate. Despite this, any who do buy mainly through PSS are almost definite to see at least some benefit.

Discless Awaits

It’s fairly evident that, try as they might to dispel rumours of it, most companies wish to shift to a digital-only future sooner rather than later. Many believe that it is certainly coming one day, and they may be right. In that case, this rewards system may become much more relevant in the coming years, too.

One major downside to all of this is that the rewards system won’t be applicable to trophies earned beforehand. So if you were excited to redeem your 30 platinums right away and get something new to play, I’m sorry to disappoint. For my international brothers and sisters, the phrase ‘US-only’ also sucks more than anything else. Crucially, though, nothing is set in stone, so here’s hoping.

It’s a pretty refreshingly pro-consumer move after the countless reminders by Sony that they refuse to implement cross-platform online play. While as a business decision that particular one makes complete sense, the knowledge that cross-plat games are more and more frequently coming out on other systems still hurts pretty bad. Regardless, on most other fronts, Sony are still fighting for the little guy, and this proves that.

Leave a Reply

Latest Reviews