Sony has recently released its PlayStation Stars loyalty program in Asia—on Sept. 29—and players in Japan already have complaints about the system, on the very same day of its release; specifically about the system’s customer support.
The program has a four-tier level system, which has all players start at level one while working their way all the way up to level four. Players can do this by earning trophies and buying games.
Something inherently unfair about the system has players enraged, however. The level four tier, which isn’t an easy tier to unlock—requiring players to earn 128 rare trophies and buy four full-price games from the PlayStation Store—rewards players with prioritized customer service.
What this apparently means is that players that have achieved the level four tier through PlayStation Stars can jump the queue when contacting customer support with their problems and queries.
PlayStation itself confirms this fact by mentioning that the level four tier includes a commemorative collectible as well as a promise that ensures “you will be given priority in the chat order” when you contact PlayStation Customer Support.
Japanese Twitter users began to raise their voices in protest, frustrated over the unfairness of the perks given through PlayStation Stars’ tier system. A lot of the users pointed out that good customer service should not be something you have to pay extra for, and should be the standard.
Players pointed out that not everyone has the time or money to be getting into the fourth tier of the system, while only wanting to own and play a couple of titles, and that the tier system seems to give unfair advantages to hardcore gamers.
While PlayStation Stars was released today, Sept. 29, all over Asia, Sony has revealed the release dates for the rest of the regions: Oct. 5 for North and South America, and Oct. 13 for Europe.
All the details for how the system would work were given out earlier this month during Sony’s State of Play, with more information being revealed today on Sept. 29.
Players will have to earn rewards by completing an array of activities and campaigns, which will vary in difficulty, from merely playing a single game in a month to earning a specific trophy, which is where a lot of the player complaints have been coming from, as getting into the fourth tier of the system takes a lot of time and money.
