One of the PlayStation 5’s original features is now on its way out. In a post discovered on the Sony UK website, and sub-sequentially tweeted by well-known video game aficionado Nibel, the company has announced that the PlayStation 5’s Accolades feature will be discontinued this Fall mostly because “the usage rate has not reached the expected rate.” The Accolades feature allowed players to commend others with positive reinforcement messages after online matches. However, and unfortunately as expected, the Accolades feature was used very little, if in any capacity at all.
The Accolades feature was Sony’s attempt to try and promote positive online comradery, which players could do with special messages such as Helpful, Welcoming, or Good Sport to comment on their online behavior. The end result of this feature was players receiving a special digital badge to show that they’re known with a positive demeanor when playing online. Sony’s intent was apparent from the get go, but the unfortunate reality is that it just ended up not being used by a lot of players.
Most likely put in place to reduce online toxicity, Sony’s attempt to mitigate the rampant activity is commendable, but not completely avoidable. As much as we don’t like it, there has always been some level of online toxicity, and it will more than likely stay like that for the foreseeable future. As we already mentioned, the Accolades feature will be completely removed later this sometime in the Fall. Sony did not give a concrete day for the scheduled shutdown, but if you do enjoy using Accolades, then this is your official notice to use it as much as you can before the aforementioned time frame.