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 did my thing and it said thanks for the download and then said error now i am unacessabe to regain my free content :(
Wahoo inFamous Game show up as free game after trail expire if your plus Member just let the time run after you play few mins of the game :D. Guys Question which better Dead Nation or Wipeout HD? I do have LBP and Super Star Dust HD :)
I mean trial :P my bad.
Chose inFamous, as my “Welcome Back” – PS3 Download…
Unfortunately, it showed that I had selected it, removed the PS3 game, for my Welcome Back, but never shoed a DOWNLOAD option, nor is it in my “shopping cart”.
Only item downloaded was a PSP game.
**How can I get a Download Authorization for the inFamous Game?
hankypants1 how are you trying to do the download?
I thought you could download the free psp games using the ps3 store now I’m very disappointed :(.
Ok, im upset/ I downloaded inFAMOUS and WipEout and I left my PS3 for it to download WipEout, which was the first game I ordered and when I came back and went to “Download Management”, inFAMOUS was the only one downloadin and that is currently still goin on right now as I type this msg Where is my Wipout game?!
Now this really sucks… call it crap timing but I am among those that recently bought a PS3 and am now feeling a bit ripped off by this fiasco. I purchased my PS3 slim 160 with the GT5 bundle on the night of April 19th around midnight DURING THE MIDNIGHT RELEASE PARTY of Mortal Kombat. I also bought the Mortal Kombat Tournament Edition that I had on reserve even though I did not have the console yet. So there I am, dropping over $500 on a system and a premium package game without knowing the network was about to get screwed just to find out later that not only can I not access any of the online features of either game, but also PSN itself for well over a month… NOW getting told that I don’t meet the cutoff date so I get nothing for having to wait to even use certain features of my games? And why does it seem like I can access half of the promo (the 100 free home items) but I have no access to PS+ or the two games? Someone needs to take a look at this. It’s not JUST the people that had accounts prior to that date that have been affected. I don’t see “SCEA Promotion” in my Services List and also get the “This content cannot be accessed on your account” message on the Welcome Back screen.
What now, Sony?
@EdwardCORE-UK – Post #5248
So, if You joined the military immediately after a conflict was resolved and you knew that there wouldn’t be another during your time in the service, can you really say that you risked your life? No.
If you were not present (registered) before the attack, then you had nothing to lose. Therefore, Sony has no reason to attempt to compensate you. Get it through your heads people. You were not registered before the attack happened, you had nothing compromised, so there for you will never have the right to claim this “welcome back” package, especially when another user explained that you were “never here” for the attack. I said it once, I’ll say it again. Loyalty means accepting an entity (in this case, Sony), unwaivering on whether they did good or bad and without asking anything of said entity. Loyalty is NOT purchasing their product, then complaining about getting excluded from something.
It takes WAAAAYYYYYY too long to download the games i am going to wait 3 or 4 weeks.
@EdwardCORE-UK – Post #5248
“Those with pre-outage account are the ones who are losing the most here, yet they don’t see it. … People who had their personal info stolen should receive more” Are we really losing the most? We’re getting stuff others don’t have access too, giving them what we’re getting would most definitely mean we are losing the most. Duh! Think before you speak, moron. You give those that weren’t registered before the attack a Welcome Back package lowers the value that Sony was offering to those who were present before the attack. I mean… really? Did you even think about the value of what the pre-attack users are getting compared to the ones who were not present getting zilch? I can’t believe someone who is benefiting from this offer is actually suggesting we’re being ripped off when we are getting more than the excluded users. If someone were to give me $1 for punching me and you weren’t punched and never got $1… I got more than you did for the risk involved. Your comment is a joke. I laugh at you’re incompetent math. What they’re offering is more than $200 worth per person and that’s including the identity protection. (if you don’t take advantage of that, it’s YOUR loss).
bigbaddoom31 – i think i have it sorted now. i found a link to let me change passwords rather than the link i was getting on mediago. that has sorted it and the vids are now downloading thanks. It stlll says no content on the welcome back thing though. Thanks for trying to help
can smeone answer tyhis plz. i saw all the ps3 games for welcome back program but then a error code popped up i logged on again and now no ps3 games are there!
To mr Editor Susan Panico, or whoever is reading this I picked LBP from the free games, tried to download once and since the rush it froze and took my game away, and the free game content 1. I used my Free game 2 for the same thing, finally got LBP, but still never got my first. I also tried going into account management (I followed the steps) and my first free game still isn’t there. Is there something I missed or did I just get the unlucky end of the stick?
I downloaded WipeOut-HD + Fury…Though in my Game Data it shows its there but as for the Game itself “IT’S NOT”…Is or Has anyone else experience this problem?…Or does anyone have away to resolve this issue?
@SubZeroLux
Buying a PS3 does not mean you automatically have instant access to the PSN. Just be happy you WEREN’T registered and your identity was compromised.
did anyone with a PSP get Killzone Liberation. If you did have you played online because i downloaded a patch that i think lets me play online and it keeps having errors.
Answer ASAP
Do you guys think someone is reading this blog from sony on a sunday night…..
@4330 where did you get the patch from?
@ 4326 pooju5
read the update that says this!:
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.
Hey morgan i cant get on to playstation plus it keep telling me that i cant a access this on my account can you help me out on this. Thanks
And update to my previous post on InFAMOUS not showing up on the games i figured it out in case some of you are having the same problem.
Im a plus member and a wile back i downloaded infamous 1 hour demo but didnt play it for what ever reason and deleted it. so i had to search for infamous in the store it says i already own it but don’t, so re download it, i know its a big 7 gig file, but this will fix the problem. play the game untill the hour expires delete it go back to welcome back page and it should be in there now and once again download that big 7 gig file! but after that its yours!
a little glitch but at least theres a solution.
@Vashnik
When buying a console that comes with a game that requires access to said network to use its features- I would say it does actually mean I should have access…
You obviously bought a PS3 at some point. Did you buy it thinking “no, I don’t want this whole ‘online’ thing, I’ll never use the PSN.”? Right. Neither did anybody else. Seems that everyone who was “compromised” in this situation wants to play the martyr yet has anyone heard of this information being used for nefarious purposes yet?
I haven’t.
@4336 one person on a blog said that they had charges from france but nothing major that’s been reported. I tend to look at those as people who are ticked and want to make Sony look bad. Considering Japans rules I think they will try as hard as possible to keep stuff protected even thought some of this could have been taken care of before the hacks.
Anyone having problems with “Welcome Back” deserves it. Go fly a kite.
Issue Resolved,
RE: PurePoison186
“I LOST MY DOWNLOADS!! i clicked ‘add to cart’ cause i ran out of room on my ps3. when i cleared some room i could not download them and the icon disappeared. what to do!?!? kinda feels like a royal slap in the face”
Go to Account Management>Transaction Management>Services List>SCEA Promotion
from there you will be able reclaim your game(s) if you chose ‘ add to cart’ and they failed to be in your cart when you were ready to download.
@4338 how do you figure people having issues deserve them?
@4312
+ Senrabe
whats your complaint about? your complaining about spending more money yet threatening to switch to XBL which is more money spent on your behalf.
You can get a decent hard drive upgrade for around $50 and have plenty of space way more the xbox offers and by the way you will have to go buy their over priced hard drive.
@ J_Scroggs
i would love to fly a kite, but theres no wind and to many houses around here :(
incompetence
well i guess i could fly it, but i just dont wanna hit any houses, or knock any cats out of any trees haha
Dear Playstation,
I think I did something wrong, oops! I lost my 2 games because of an error.
I looked if they were in the SCEA Promotions menu and there’s only the second game available. I’m currently downloading it.
However, for the first game, it’s written “Content : 0” in the SCEA Promotions menu. As far as I know, I didn’t download the game. Anyway, I’ll look into that later when my download will be done. ( There’s 700 minutes left, hahaha.)
If you have no solution for this, it’s okay. It’s great already that you give away free games. I’m not gonna complain.
Thank you.
BUT how would you recomend me fly it with no wind? and no.. i will not tie it to a 10 foot pole..
@4320 Try going back to your download list if you were downloading it should be there
@4327 You can tray again later and see if it appears other wise contact consumer support
@4345 what is the game your having the issue with where it shows 0?
I dowloaded a game and it’s the wrong one. Am I stuck with it?
@4345 go back and try to download your game from the welcome back package and then do that SCEA promotion thing
@4349 probably contact customer support and see what they say.
4349
bassplayer_1
Yes..
i cant get my second game it said it was not available yesterday and now the ps3 game 2 thing is gone so im only allowed 1 game now ? come on now thats weak
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.
@bigbadddoom31
from here
http://www.pspdemocenter.org/forums.php?m=posts&q=59801&n=unread
@4348
I didn’t even download a game. I only selected the Welcome Back Package : Game 1.
@4350
The Welcome Back Package : Game 1 is gone from the Welcome Back page.
4353
RJH_24
try XBM>Playstation Network>Account Management>Transaction Management>Services List>SCEA Promotion
Free full games to help keep me busy over summer break. Yeah, this is why I love PlayStation :D My PSP and PS3 are gonna be very busy this summer as well.
You guys know that Sony is using this as a trial for their customers to experience PS+ into keeping the service after your trial expires. Even though we’re promised 30 days, how the hell can we even download when so many people keep overloading the server. I hate you Sony and wish you will go bankrupt.
@SubZeroLux
Buying a PS3 does not mean you have instant access to PSN. You must register. Didn’t realise I had to explain it in detail to you. Just as Xbox 360 requires you to register (if you don’t have a Passport ID, such as hotmail or live or registered a 3rd party email like GMail).
Purchase product > Set Product Up > Make PS3 “user” account > Register For PSN Account > Connect PS3 “user” to PSN account.
Buying PS3 not equal to *instant* access to PSN.
When you purchase a PS3, you do not automatically get an account upon your purchase. You are to set that up, so that YOU know the information YOU give to Sony, so YOU know the password.
Second, you need a “user” account on the PS3 so that you can connect it to a PSN account.
Does that sound like *instant* access to PSN when buying a PS3? No. It’s like one of those “some assembly required” deals. I emphasized the “Instant Access.” Don’t mistake it with a “No Access.”
If you didn’t register before hand, then you don’t deserve the welcome back. As another user stated it’s a “Welcome BACK” not a “Welcome To”. You never existed on PlayStation Network before the downtime.
please can someone tell me what an xmb is?
I think Sony should extend the program to everyone. They are making it available only until July 3rd, so it won’t last forever. So as an appreciation to all gamers who have chosen the PS3, that would make things look a bit better for them. Now, for ALL those who had their personal credit card info compromised, a full refund insurance if their info or CC is ever used illegally and related to the PSN info theft is mandatory. They should also come public to specify all measures taken to avoid such attacks again, since they are a billionaire company which has worldwide representation and half of their distribuition content is done digitally and online, and involving credit info from consumers all around the world, so it’s the least they could do. So excuse me if I am being skeptical about this and insisting in the subject, but I think we’re accepting a very lame apology and still thinking they are doing too much.
i cant decide should i get stardust or wipeout?