UPDATE: Due to high traffic on PlayStation Store, you may encounter error messages or issues. We advise you to check back a little later and try again.
Note: In order to download two games at no cost, you must redeem them from the “Welcome Back” category. The individual titles are still available for purchase outside of the “Welcome Back Program”
If at any point you can’t find the ‘Welcome Back Free Game 1 or 2’ products, the list of available titles or a game you’ve selected, go to your XMB>PlayStation Network>Account Management>Transaction Management>Services List>SCEA Promotions to complete the process.
We’re so excited to welcome you back to PlayStation Network. With the PlayStation Store back online, we’ve been getting all caught up this week, having launched an abundance of amazing content for download on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable devices across games, movies, themes and DLC. Today, we’re excited to launch the Welcome Back program to thank you for your loyalty, and below, we’ve got what you need in order to get access to the included content. So, here’s a list of questions about the program. If you don’t see your question below, mention it in the comments and we’ll do our best to provide an answer. Thanks again for your patience and understanding as we restored the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services – your support has meant a lot to us and is greatly appreciated.
Q: What’s in the Welcome Back Program?
A: To start, all PSN members who had signed up before the outage (April 20, 2011) will be able to select two games for the PS3 system and two games for the PSP system.
For PS3 owners, go to the ‘Welcome Back’ section in the PlayStation Store, and select 2 titles from the following list:
- Dead Nation
- inFAMOUS
- LittleBigPlanet
- Super Stardust HD
- Wipeout HD + Fury
For PSP owners, go to the ‘Welcome Back’ section of PlayStation Store on your PSP system and select 2 titles from the following list:
- LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
- ModNation Racers
- Pursuit Force
- Killzone Liberation
Select your first game from “Game 1”, then return to the Welcome Back page and go to “Game 2” to select your second game out of the remaining choices available. This goes for both PS3 and PSP.
In addition, we’re giving access to our premium subscription service, PlayStation Plus, which includes games, huge discounts, exciting exclusives and added features like online storage and automatic downloads, to all PSN members for 30 days at no charge, requiring no long term commitment. As with the games above, go to the PlayStation Store and under the ‘Welcome Back’ section, select ‘PlayStation Plus: 30 Days Free’, and you’ll be given access to all of the benefits of PlayStation Plus. Note that this will not auto-renew and simply expires 30 days after activation.
Current Plus subscribers receive an extra 60 days added to their existing subscription at no charge. For current Plus subscribers, no action is needed as the 60 days are automatically added to your subscription.
PlayStation Network users will also get 100 virtual items in PlayStation Home as a show of appreciation for your patience while Home was inaccessible. Additional content is coming soon, including the next addition to the Home Mansion personal space, and Ooblag’s Alien Casino, an exclusive game.
A selection of “On Us” movie rentals are currently available to PlayStation Network customers this weekend only, where Video Service is available.
Finally, current Music Unlimited Premium subscription members will receive an additional 30 days of premium subscription plus days lost due to the outage.
Q: When will I have access to the Welcome Back Program?
A: The content offered as part of the Welcome Back Program is available for download today and will be available through July 3.
Q: I have both PS3 and PSP. Does this mean I will get 4 games all together?
A: Yes, as long as you were a PSN member before April 20, 2011, you’ll be able to receive up to 4 games based on the titles listed above; 2 on each platform.
Q: Are there any limitations to the PS3 and PSP games we are receiving as part of the Welcome Back Program?
A: These games are yours to keep.
Q: How long do I have to get into the PlayStation Store and receive my content for Welcome Back?
A: Access to the Welcome Back content will be expiring on July 3. Once this date has passed, the Welcome Back section in the PlayStation Store will be removed.
Q: When does the 30 days of my PlayStation Plus access expire?
A: Your PlayStation Plus 30-day access will expire 30 days from the date you activated it in PlayStation Store.
Q: When will (insert game here) be published?
A: Look forward to posts over the coming days that will show what content will be available at that point, or coming soon. We’re planning frequent store publishes offering lots of new content for everyone to enjoy.
Q: I’m getting 30 days of access to PlayStation Plus; can you refresh my memory on what I get with this service?
A: From the time you activate your 30 days of PlayStation Plus, you’ll be able to download games and game related content, purchase select store items at a discount, and have access to the exclusive features of Plus. You’ll also be able to get early access to any Plus exclusive Demos and priority Beta invitations that might be scheduled during your 30 days.
Q: Do I get to keep the games in PlayStation Plus forever?
A: Content that is free in PlayStation Plus will not be available after your PlayStation Plus time has expired. However, if you decide to join PlayStation Plus, you’ll have access to all of the content you downloaded during your 30 day access for as long as you are a subscriber.
Q: Do I get to keep any games or content I purchased with the PlayStation Plus discount?
A: Yes. Any content you purchase at a discount is yours to keep, regardless of your subscription status.
Q: Aside from the games and discounts; does PlayStation Plus offer anything else?
A: Yes! PlayStation Plus includes the Online Storage for Game Saves feature, allowing you to backup treasured game saves or access them from another PS3 system as long as you are a subscriber. In addition, you get the Automatic Download feature, which automatically updates your 10 most recently played games while the system is in stand-by mode so you don’t have to wait for updates before playing your games.
Q: What content will be in PlayStation Plus when I activate my 30 days?
A: PlayStation Plus content and discounts are regularly updated throughout the month. For up-to-date information on content within PlayStation Plus, please visit the Plus homepage.
Q: Where can I find the Welcome Back content in Home?
A: The 100 virtual items can be found in the kiosk in Home’s Central Plaza along with two personal spaces – Dragon’s Lair and the Mansion Garage. A new game – Ooblag’s Alien Casino – will be released soon (June 2011). This game will be free-to-play. As an added bonus, players that access the Ooblag Alien Casino space will be rewarded an active item version of the Ooblag game that can be played in your personal space(s).
Q: How do I access the content in the Welcome Back Program?
A: Follow the steps below to access the content in the Welcome Back Program:
1. Log on to PlayStation®Store
2. Click on the “Welcome Back” tab in the upper left menu
3. Select “Welcome Back Free PS3™ Game 1”
4. Within the category, click on the “Welcome Back Free PS3™ Game 1” product and “Get Now”
5. Select your free PS3™ game*, and “Download”*
6. Repeat steps 3-5 with “Welcome Back Free PS3™ Game 2”
7. Go to the XMB™ to play your free games.
Q: I clicked on one of the Welcome Back Free PS3/PSP Game 1/2 selections, clicked “Get Now”, but no games showed up. Now that option is no longer selectable in the Store. Where is my game?
A: This is an issue we’re working on resolving, however for the time being, you can still get to that content by going to the XMB and under the PlayStation Network column, go to Account Management>Transaction Management>Services List>SCEA Promotion. You should be able to access the content in the option you selected here.
Q: Why am I getting errors saying I can’t access the Store?
A: Due to the surge of people going to the Store, you may experience some blocks in accessing certain areas of the store. Give it another try, or wait for a small period of time to avoid the rush.
Remember, if you didn’t see your question answered above, drop us a line below and we’ll do our best to answer it. Welcome Back!
I cant even sign on to playstation home because of the flooded servers and i only got to get a few free items and then it started saying error and it doesn’t go away
@1781 had the same prob yesterday they do work but u might get an error code just keep at it eventually it will work cuz mine did actually it said it didnt but i looked and the money was added
Account Management is “Under Maintenance” in the web.
…
Just wanted to add my name to the list of those who don’t see inFAMOUS in the list. Like another member mentioned, I also downloaded the trial (but didn’t end up playing or purchasing it after the hour). Hope it get’s fixed soon.
On my psn it only shows four games it doesn’t show infamous any answer to why??
boondox30 i dont think it will work but it couldnt hurt to try
ok thank you TheMadHatter13
no problem
If we were to use the online storage during the 30 trial, would we still be able to access it when the trial is over?
I have a question, can I still play the 2 free games by downloading it to my old account (which was made along time ago) and play it on my new account (which was made after April 20th).?
How come one of the “100 free items” in Home isn’t free? The Egyptian King Sandals costs $0.49.
ummm..I don’t mean to be rude but why the fff am I not included in this program??? I bought my PS3 for my birthday while the network was hacked. I knew it but since I love everything sony just like my PS1 and PS2, I chose not to return it for a 360 but instead keep it because I heard that there will be a appreciation pack. So incase you haven’t noticed I also missed out on PSN for a whole month and yet I am not eligible to get my part of the deal just because I didn’t have a PS3 and couldn’t sign up a few days earlier??? Can someone please tell me why I am left out of this great deal when I stayed loyal to Sony and didn’t trade my PS3 for a 360 even though I was missing out on one of the most important aspect of my console and I lent Sony like $350! :'(
So take it the store is offline now? I keep getting the Error 80710D36 now and can’t load a damn thing and I want to redeem codes actually so I am kinda like damn!!!
Ok, i keep getting errors when going to the ps store and the welcome back section, i went to download the 2 free games and it gave me an error, i assume because so many people are trying to get them at one…BUT when i went back to try and redownload later on today the free game 1 and free game 2 were not in the list anymore and i didnt even download them but the ps store thinks i did download them, WTH how do i get these free games if possible? I Did manage to get on ps+ and the free movie rentals but the 2 free games is what i wanted most!
Playstation could you please tell me what to do.
I tried to get my free games and when the directions sayed to press circle i thought you pressed it untill
you got back to the screen where it offers the welcome back PS3 pick 2 thing, and my choices disapired and now I can’t get my free games, the only one I got was one PSP game that I didn’t even want. Now that the choices are gone what can I do to get my free games???????
please Help me!!!!!!!!!!
OK I TRIED DOWNLOADING A GAME WHEN IT WAS ALL LAGGY AND KEPT ON SAYING ERROR SO I LEFT AND CAME BACK NOW AT MIDNIGHT AND I DONT HAVE EITEHR OF THE 2 FREE PS3 DOWNLOADS???? HOW DO I GET THEM BACK!!!
i’m a bit worried, but i’m keeping my cool. earlier today i tried to get my first free download and i got some error message, like a lot of other people. so i go “alright i guess the PS store is probably overloaded right now, and understandably so.” So about ten minutes ago i went to try and get my first game using the welcome back program category, and my first game was no longer available in the category, as if PS store thought that i had already gotten my free game, when in actuality i never even got to select one. i know my friend had the same problem and i saw a few other people had that problem too. I just wanted to put in my two cents, to make sure there are enough reports of these incidents for sony to take action… again.
also if anyone figured out how to fix this, it would be nice of you to share.
@vampire i dont believe so i think its things that you only spend money on with the plus that u get to keep even after ur subscription is up but dont hold me to it cuz i dont have one myself just saying i assume the answer is no
I did Get Play Station Plus for 60 day. there error Said This Content cannot be accessed on your account. Need to add Plus now please?
I am having a problem of Infamous not showing up when i go to download the games. It only shows 4 choices and I already was successful in downloading Littlebigplanet but i cannot download infamous. I did have the free 60 minute trial on my hard drive prior to the network hack but I never played it. I’m wondering if thats why I don’t see it as an option. Any ideas? Help? Thanks.
@Tony
If this happened, go to the XMB and under the PlayStation Network column, go to Account Management>Transaction Management>Services List>SCEA Promotions to download the game for that first slot.
might get a few errors but eventually it will work
@1805 it happended to me, log out and log back in and u should be able to subscribe to plus
@Demonic_Ere Thanks.
I thought I was out of luck, but I was able to get my games that way.
I DLed the welcome back free game 2 (not the actual game, but the prerequisite before downloading my 2nd game), and accidently backed out before I chose my 2nd game. Now when I try and go back, it doesn’t show the 2nd game option. Only got to download 1 game. Will I get to download my 2nd game? What do I need to do?
ok so im glad psn store is back up but i went to clam my free games and do to some server lag was cheated out of my 2nd free game for ps3
I want a PS+ Welcome Back Rewards too, I was affected by the PSN Outage also. I got my PSP-Go Black with 3 Promotional CD last April 25, and I created my PSN Account when PS Store was up. How come I can’t avail the reward ? I was also affected.
I have a question, can I still play the 2 free games by downloading it to my old account (which was made along time ago) and play it on my new account (which was made after April 20th).? please answer me!!!!!!!!
Er, getting Network Errors for the playstation home…ANyone else getting this message?
THANKS MADHATTER!
What’s going on Sony? I’ve got one game to download but when I tried to get the second game it said my memory was full so freed up some space went back in and now I can’t download another game. Have gone into servics list to check it and that say I have no more games available. Have I lost a game now?
Why does my ps3 say when I try to download the PlayStation plus . it says this ” This could not be on your account”
not trying to be mean to ppl but man nobody looks at the comments do they heres what u do for the millionth time excuse my spelling i suck but here u go
If this happened, go to the XMB and under the PlayStation Network column, go to Account Management>Transaction Management>Services List>SCEA Promotions to download the game for that first slot.
I tried to redeem my first PS3 game, but wanted to add it to my cart so I could deal with all the downloads at once. However, upon going to the second PS3 game, I noticed the first one was not added to my cart! So somewhere along the line, I lost the first game!! I went to Account Management, Service List, like suggested, but nothing was listed in there for me to download or even select. Is this an error that can be fixed??
I signed up for plus on 6/02/2011.
Less than 24 hours before the release of the welcome back package.
Apparently I don’t get an extra 30 day extension. The item isn’t even shown on my welcome back package :(
Can someone here help?
omfg sorry for above post, wrong copy paste, plz delete it
ummm..I don’t mean to be rude but why the fff am I not included in this program??? I bought my PS3 for my birthday while the network was hacked. I knew it but since I love everything sony just like my PS1 and PS2, I chose not to return it for a 360 but instead keep it because I heard that there will be a appreciation pack. So incase you haven’t noticed I also missed out on PSN for a whole month and yet I am not eligible to get my part of the deal just because I didn’t have a PS3 and couldn’t sign up a few days earlier??? Can someone please tell me why I am left out of this great deal when I stayed loyal to Sony and didn’t trade my PS3 for a 360 even though I was missing out on one of the most important aspect of my console and I lent Sony like $350! :’(
i think this blog post needs to be updated with all the information madhatter has been gladly handing out. it sure would make things alot easier on everyone..
@ null error thats because you purched it if u would have waited to get the 30 days free then purchased it u would have be A O K
is Japan or Hong Kong playstation network and store working? My country friends haven’t been able to sign in? I feel bad for them
I bought my ps3 from a friend, it happened to be the day after the outage, and i was unable to make an acct., therefore, i had to wait just as long as everyone else. So do i not get any of the welcome back package?, because thats B.S for me when i had to wait just like everyother person.
@ Tony lol if i could make my own blog or section for ppl having trouble i gladly would i enjoy helping ppl
i was able to download my first game but them both ps3 free game pages vanished and now i dont have the option to download a second game !!! whats this about
i was getting my free games and i clicked on the free ps3 game and then clicked the get now option then i went back and back again on accident and the option to get the free ps3 games disappeared and now i can’t get my free games. would anyone know what to do?
Is anyone else having trouble even signing in? It keeps giving me the error message. I’m not even trying to go to the store or buy anything, just trying to sign in and…ERROR, you’ve been signed out. Any ideas???
Please fix Infamous not showing up on the list for people who downloaded the trial via ps+ when it was added to the store. Is the only game that i don’t already have that i am interested in and it doesn’t even let me pick it.
well i clicked get free game 1 and it said an error has occured and deleted it from the list on the ps store also did same thing with 2 went to look at the downloaded files… not there so i cant get them
i cant get on ps home
i hear ya madhatter. i came to read all the comments while it’s my wife’s turn on the ps3 – I knew after slugging through to get all of my stuff it was going to be a madhouse in here. it’s like a social experiment concerning whether people read before they post. or like the human centIPAD episode of South Park a little, lol …
@rodimus491
If this happened, go to the XMB and under the PlayStation Network column, go to Account Management>Transaction Management>Services List>SCEA Promotions to download the game for that first slot.
if u get an error just keep trying it will work and as far as i know wipeout hd isnt working for some odd reason i downloaded it fine but it just doesnt want to show up so thats just a heads up
I got my PS3 The day before you guys got hacked and I wasn’t able to register. Any thing Sony can do to help? I’m not trying to sound greedy, I’m just curious because I was really looking forward to getting a Game. Thanks for the Store being back up though! Gonna buy some games when i get back from my Trip. PSOne games here I come!
@shyguy right on it gets rather annoying ppl not reading the comments but i just feel to bad to keep ppl in the dark so i just keep copying and pasting it.