Sony Issues $10 Credit To PSN Users Seemingly At Random

Earnest Cavalli

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Jun 19, 2008
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Sony Issues $10 Credit To PSN Users Seemingly At Random



If you recently received a $10 credit from Sony, consider yourself inexplicably fortunate.

Over the course of the past 24 hours Sony has been sending messages to active PlayStation Network users which include a gratis $10 credit to be used in the PSN's online store. Why? Nobody is really sure.

The last time Sony issued these sorts of credits, it was ostensibly a loyalty rewards program. The messages accompanying the credit even said as much, stating that the free money was a reward for "being a loyal customer and fan of PlayStation Network." This new round of credit however offers no such explanation.

Polygon was able to contact a Sony representative and asked how the firm decides who should be granted the $10 credit, but were met with a less than helpful response. "While we don't disclose the exact criteria used, we can say that select active PSN users were chosen to receive an XMB message that included a credit for their SEN Wallet as part of this special promotion," the spokesperson said.

While we'd like to think that Sony isn't handing out cash at random, reports from those gifted with the gratis credit seem to have only one commonality: Each of the users has an active PlayStation Network account. That's it. It's the only link anyone's been able to determine. Until Sony decides to make public its criteria for gifting, we'll have to assume that this surprise promotion was an effort to simply reward people for existing on Sony's books. Congratulations if you managed to receive the credit, but don't feel too bad if you didn't. The universe is a random, uncaring place; Sony doubly so.

Source: Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/14/4104740/sony-hands-out-10-psn-credit-to-select-active-psn-users]

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Arslan Aladeen

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Oct 9, 2012
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I got $10 from PSN a little while ago. When people give me something for nothing, I don't ask why, I just take it and get outta there before they change their mind.
 

Chaos James

Bastion of Debauchery
May 27, 2011
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Oh yay, a second time I've not received anything from Sony after being a loyal customer.

But hey, it's fine. I'm picking up a 3DS soon, and I have plenty of games on my PSP as it is. Sony seems to be able to give away money, they don't need anymore of mine.
 

Mylinkay Asdara

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Nov 28, 2010
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Draconalis said:
On the Playstation store

Get 10 dollars for every 50 dollars spent
Yup. Think it's probably this (who's on research today?) because that's been tagged up on the PSN little boxes of information collection for a week or so now - at least that's when I noticed it, could be the whole month. So "active" probably translates to "people who bought $50 or more this month." Not really a mystery.
 

crono738

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Sep 4, 2008
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Got one of the $10 codes back in February. This might not have anything to do with the "Spend $50, get $10 back" thing since I haven't bought anything on the PSN store in months.
 

dragongit

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Feb 22, 2011
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Apparently I've yet to have spent a total of 50 dollars ever on the PSN, even if I've bought a lot of DLC, and a lot of PS3 games on launch. I'm not trying to be bitter, but I wish I knew what their system was for just random free money outside of the 10 for 50 deal.
 

FalloutJack

Bah weep grah nah neep ninny bom
Nov 20, 2008
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Again, I'm not one to complain about free money. I believe we've had this discussion before, albeit under different circumstances.
 

Space Jawa

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Feb 2, 2010
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So it has something to do with spending money?

Shame. I wanted to believe they had a massive dart board put up somewhere with the names of all their PSN members and simply threw darts at it and then went "Ok, we hit their name, let's send 'em $10."
 

VanQ

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Oct 23, 2009
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I get the metaphor you were trying to go for but calling Sony uncaring after they just gave away all that money is kind of nasty, don't you think?
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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crono738 said:
Got one of the $10 codes back in February. This might not have anything to do with the "Spend $50, get $10 back" thing since I haven't bought anything on the PSN store in months.
That sounds more like what I was thinking it might be -- they give you $10, which you spend, and then you have a dollar or two hanging over. So do you just let it sit, or do you buy another card so you can use it up? Sony's really struggling financially at the moment, and I'd imagine that they're hoping a small but significant fraction of the people they're sending these $10 credits to will start spending their own money, thanks to the weirdness of pre-paid card based transactions.

Valve got me the same way when they gave me a free copy of Portal, and at the time I was /really/ iffy about using a service that heavily DRM'd and EULA'd. My Steam library is now well over 100 games, and it's close to $1000 in value[footnote]or over if all games were bought individually -- some steam calculators are smart enough to recognize bundles[/footnote] -- although I didn't actually pay anywhere near that much for it.
 

kailus13

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Mar 3, 2013
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Even if it is random, they're still giving out free store credit. This is a good thing.
 

Earnest Cavalli

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Mylinkay Asdara said:
Draconalis said:
On the Playstation store

Get 10 dollars for every 50 dollars spent
Yup. Think it's probably this (who's on research today?) because that's been tagged up on the PSN little boxes of information collection for a week or so now - at least that's when I noticed it, could be the whole month. So "active" probably translates to "people who bought $50 or more this month." Not really a mystery.
We thought so too initially. Sony claims otherwise.
 

Mylinkay Asdara

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Nov 28, 2010
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Earnest Cavalli said:
Mylinkay Asdara said:
Draconalis said:
On the Playstation store

Get 10 dollars for every 50 dollars spent
Yup. Think it's probably this (who's on research today?) because that's been tagged up on the PSN little boxes of information collection for a week or so now - at least that's when I noticed it, could be the whole month. So "active" probably translates to "people who bought $50 or more this month." Not really a mystery.
We thought so too initially. Sony claims otherwise.
Then I stand corrected and offer apologies. That's just weird.
 

afroebob

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Oct 1, 2011
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Arslan Aladeen said:
I got $10 from PSN a little while ago. When people give me something for nothing, I don't ask why, I just take it and get outta there before they change their mind.
OMG ITS FRANKLIN!

In the interest of not getting suspended for spamming I guess I'll throw my 2 cents in here. Don't know if it was a mistake or not but the fact that this means you get not just free internet with sony but they give you money makes me consider switching to Playstation next gen, at least if I buy a console at all.