Sony will discontinue the PS5’s Accolades characteristic later this yr, because the system obtained much less utilization than the tech large anticipated.
The PS5 group awards characteristic lets gamers commend fellow avid gamers for useful and beneficiant actions. However Sony says Accolades hasn’t obtained the engagement it had hoped for.
“In fall of 2022 [that’s spring in the Southern Hemisphere], the Accolades characteristic on PlayStation 5 will not be supported,” a PlayStation assist web page (opens in new tab) noticed by Push Sq. (opens in new tab) reads. “The characteristic hasn’t seen the extent of utilization we anticipated, so we’re refocusing our efforts. We encourage the group to proceed to ship constructive messages to at least one one other.”
Rewards, not awards
The Accolades characteristic was initially launched to let gamers present their appreciation of each other. After finishing an internet match, gamers can decide a fellow gamer to award with one in every of three accolades: Useful, Welcoming, or Good Sport. The concept is to acknowledge beneficiant gamers whereas encouraging better positivity amongst multiplayer communities.
The system is pretty strong, too. You’ll be able to solely give accolades to gamers who aren’t in your buddies record, and may’t ship an accolade to the identical participant greater than as soon as inside 12 hours. You’ll be able to view any awards you’ve earned by way of your PSN profile.
However whereas the player-led rewards program will likely be sundown, a brand new system is on the horizon. Sony introduced its PS Stars loyalty program final month, which is able to reward gamers for spending time on the PS5 and PS4. By Stars, gamers earn factors for enjoying particular video games or incomes explicit trophies. These factors can then be transferred into digital collectibles and PS Retailer funds. The brand new program is anticipated to launch worldwide later this yr.
Not that there isn’t already an abundance of rising PS5 options. Sony solely lately made one in every of its greatest options a lot simpler to seek out, rolling out an replace that permit customers have interaction auto low-latency mode from inside the settings menu. Between that and the addition of PS5 VRR earlier this yr, Sony’s flagship console is trying beefier than ever.