Sony has announced a brand new rewards program by the name of Franchise Rewards, and while it pledges to reward you for your in-game achievements with real goodies, things are a little more complicated than that.
The new program was revealed in a PlayStation Blog post, in which director Katie Lennox describes it as "a new merchandise program that celebrates your in-game achievements with special collectibles". Franchise Rewards kicks off with the Ghost games, starting with Ghost of Tsushima.
To qualify for the program, you'll need to have earned one or both of two trophies: the Gold trophy Mono no Aware and the Platinum trophy Living Legend. Having these trophies gets you "access to a selection of limited-edition merchandise".
A quiet alarm bell might be ringing in your head as you read those words, and you're right to heed it: this program only allows you the right to buy certain new merchandise, not to get it for free if you earn these trophies.
Obtaining the Mono no Aware trophy, which you can get just for completing Ghost of Tsushima's main story, will get you "access" to the corresponding Mono no Aware T-shirt, for which you'll have to cough up an additional $30, plus shipping.
Achieving the Living Legend trophy, meanwhile, which requires you to have obtained all other Ghost of Tsushima trophies (and that's no mean feat), will allow you to buy a special commemorative pin for $25. Again, that's without shipping factored in.
Of course, if you have both trophies, then Sony will gracefully allow you to give the company more of your money for both pieces of merchandise. Hey, don't say Sony never does anything nice for you.
If you do want to grab either of these items, you'll need to earn their corresponding trophies by December 31st this year. If you're playing on PC, you'll need to have linked your PlayStation account for Sony to recognize your achievements.
Sony says that these Ghost of Tsushima goodies are "just the start", which sounds vaguely threatening. The Franchise Rewards program will continue with October's Ghost of Yotei, for which more "unique merchandise" will apparently be released.
The announcement of Sony's Franchise Rewards initiative comes after the company announced it would shut down the PlayStation Stars loyalty program back in May, although I'm not sure too many people will see this as a worthy replacement. Stay tuned for more.
