Sony has updated their rewards program a bit with a new feature, Trophy Passes, that allows PlayStation trophies to be traded for small amounts of reward points. Players who enjoy the satisfaction of earning trophies for personal gains or achievements now have a monetary reason to keep doing so.
The Sony rewards program is free Sony membership service that allows people to earn points through purchasing items in the PlayStation Store or purchasing Sony products in general. Points can be used for “anything in the Sony Rewards catalog. That means the latest PlayStation hardware and games, PlayStation Plus memberships, PlayStation Store cash, Sony products, movies, and music…”
Earning points through PlayStation Store purchases requires users to link their PlayStation Network account with their Sony Rewards account, and only one PSN account can be linked to a rewards account. Unfortunately, if items were purchased through the PSN account before it was linked to the rewards account, no points will be earned for those items since you only “earn points for PlayStation Store purchases on the day you link your account but will not be able to earn for any purchases before the day that the accounts are linked.”
Sony Rewards’ update now allows players to earn points with Trophy Passes, which are acquired through earning certain amounts of trophies. Gain 100 points for 100 Silver trophies, 250 points for 25 Gold trophies, 1,000 points for 10 Platinum trophies, and the 1,000 points can be traded in for a 10$ voucher on the PlayStation Network. Bragging rights from trophies are great but earning gold and platinum trophies takes a lot of work. However, for players who planned to get the trophies anyway, gaining points and money towards a new game in addition to having bragging rights seems even better.
Similar to the requirements needed to earn points for PlayStation Store purchases, PlayStation users must link their PSN and Sony Rewards accounts before they can start earning Trophy Passes. Points will not be awarded for trophies earned on a PSN account not linked to a rewards account.
After speaking with a Sony representative, it is confirmed that PlayStation users must also opt into Trophy Passes after they connect their PSN and rewards accounts. Users who earn trophies without opting into Trophy Passes will not have those trophies count towards passes. Sony also confirmed that trophies acquired before this update will not count towards trophy passes even if the PSN and rewards accounts were already linked.
Trophies earned prior to linking your Sony Rewards account to your PlayStation Network account and Opting into the Trophy Passes will not be counted toward the completion of the Trophy Passes.
Once your accounts have been linked and you have opted into the Trophy Passes, the trophies you earn from this date forward will count toward the completion of your Trophy Passes. After earning a trophy, please allow up to 3 days for your Trophy Pass to update to reflect this information.
Polygon also states that “if it’s an older game, and the trophy is for an online event, it may not even be possible to collect that trophy if online support is turned off,” so players may not have earned all the trophies they initially thought they could get, even if those trophies don’t accumulate points.
Points do expire, so don’t let them go to waste. Points on Sony rewards accounts without a linked card to the account “will expire on March 31st of the calendar year following the year in which the points were earned.” Accounts with registered cards will have their points expire “five years from the end of the calendar month in which such points were earned.”
This current rewards feature is only available in the United States, and Sony has not made an announcement about future availability in other countries.