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!
Those who are unable to see inFamous as a selection (doesn’t appear at all) do the following to fix your issue.
1. Download the PS Plus Trial of inFamous and play it until the 1 hour time limit is up.
2. Delete the game that you downloaded (I know it really really sux).
3. Go back to the Playstation Store (Either normal or through the Services List method) and booya inFamous has mysteriously appeared!!!
Hope this helps. It’s all because at one point in time you wanted to check out inFamous and either didn’t run it all the way down past the hour trial limit or you chose it but didn’t download it. This worked for me on 3 different machines so far so I’m hoping it will work for you. This is only for those who had Playstation Plus before the outage (April 19th). Enjoy.
XMB = Xross Media Bar… its the menu system on PS3, PSP and Sony Blu-Ray devices.
thanks vashnik
I had downloaded both Infamous and Dead nation as my 2 choices for free games. The thing is that there is only record of Dead Nation in my recent downloads in PSN store and both my free games links are gone.
the 30day of PS+ downloaded fine as well.
any suggestions for fix’s?
i’m having issues with mine…3 different times i’ve tried to dl infamous. i get the random error messages, but then everything seems to work fine as it starts to dl. it says its going to take 700+ minutes so i’ve just let it run. after getting all the way through too 100% it says there was an issue installing.when i exit the ps store and go to the games on the xmb, at the bottom, there’s something new-“unknown”. the icon is a white controller with white arrows constantly circling. when i click it, i can’t get anything, no menu to look at info on it, can’t delete it. if i look at my harddrive space, i can see about 3000mb is now gone, so i know it started to take up space. i rebooted the system, and it tells me it has to rebuild the database. after that runs, the unknown is now gone, but the space is still taken up on my hd. when i went to dl again, it starts at the beginning and tells me i dont have enough space (which i dont, but i thought maybe it would start halfway through since half of it’s mb is already taken up)
is there ANYONE who has had this issue, or knows how i can fix it, or at least delete the partial space it took up???
What if you tried to download the second game and it blocked you due to high demand and now it doesn’t show up and is not in transactions history.
@4355 did you got your account management<transcription<service list and see if it's there? Other wise you may need to wait and see if ti comes again are contact consumer support.
@4366 you have to come back later and see if it allows you to do it i got plenty of errors like that but i some who got in.
Hey has anybody tried to redeem the code for $50? It says the code is valid for $50 but its unable to add the money to the wallet am i doing something wrong? somebody help me or tell me if u are having the same problem
@vashnik
So you presume that upon setting up my console I was not inclined to likewise create a PSN account? What would the purpose of that be exactly?
Your argument is akin to buying a new car with an empty gas tank. Yes, you now have ‘instant access’ to drive just about anywhere you want, oh but go top off the gas tank first. It’s a “DUH” statement.
One could also make a similar argument with your current line of thinking by saying that in order to use said account you must have a reasonable broadband connection available to your system. I guess that was not called into question being so commonplace these days, but by your estimation I am apparently too inept to realize that I also need the account in the first place.
For what it’s worth, yes, I registered. Hence my previous statement providing details of the time and date the console was purchased. One would have guessed that these details would have made the point more clear but it would appear that I am dealing with someone in possession of a lower than usual level of understanding. Good luck in your future endeavors.
I downloaded the wipeout hd game but i forgot to download the demo, so now i can’t play it! Also, playstation store took off the demo from my system!
i clicked on the 30days free plus and it said cant access on my account why not?
Thank you so much Sony for everything!!! And for keeping all us gamers in mind while everything was being handled!!!! Appreciate it very much!!!!
i didnt get my game when i tried to download it?
i cant add my $50 psn card!
it says that the code is not longer valid!!!
my friends list is showing that i have 200 friends or two of each friend all ofline and ive been getting error codes with auto log on are you sure psn didnt get hacked again
also, has anyone gotten the activation code for the identity theft company??
I’ve downloaded Wipeout HD twice, installed it twice and it still doesnt show up in my XMB. Help will be aprieciated from anyone.
you know at first i was saying if you didnt have an account before April 20th then tough luck. after some thought and peoples posts on here i feel everyone should get the welcome back package. no matter how you look at it the people not getting the package still spent money on sony’s merchandise and supporting sony. it is a crappy deal for them. im sorry to all the customers who did not get the welcome back package.
4375-call sony and hopefully they will make it right about your card.
4370-I wish Sony would have done things different. ANY CUSTOMER should be appreciated.
I’m fairly disappointed :/ everytime I try to install Little Big Planet at 14% it gives me an error code then all these suggested actions and what may be causing the problem is my network connection? My network connection runs very fast.. :/ I hope this isn’t just me that it’s happening to.. If anyone can please try to get back to me on this one.. Thanks!
And so what if they didn’t have an account before the intrusion happened. They bought a system with a faulty network. The company was faulty yet they still supporeted that company. I say give everyone the “Welcome back package.” Anyone that owns a PS3/PSP deserves it.
Very, very helpful update there. I’d honestly thought I’d lost the chance to pick up Wipeout when the Welcome Back Offer 1 button vanished.
4382-I guess we were lucky because nothing never disappeared. Only problem we had was downloading inFamous was slow but we expected that seeing it was 7GB and everyone downloading from the network. Glad everything came out well for you.
@boondox30
Thanks
I agree, at a time when this situation could have become much more catastrophic for Sony and their investors, Sony should be thankful for anyone whom is willing to stick by them as they correct this issue. You are absolutely correct, despite WHEN it was done, people still BOUGHT Sony’s product and supported their platform. Like I said before, mine just happened to work out with bad timing. Honestly I would imagine that to some the notion that some people bought PS3’s even after it was revealed that there had been a breach could be said to clearly show that people still believe in Sony.
Let’s face it, crap happens. This sort of thing has happened to online e-tailers more times than I can count. Even with the best of efforts to prevent it, NO system is 100% secure from a person or persons whom wish to gain uninvited access. It’s just how technology in general works.
I am hoping that Sony’s reputation isn’t damaged too much by this incident. I have always been a firm believer in Sony’s products.
Playstation Network sucks!!!!!! I am just freaking tired of it!!!! Go Sony and make some TV’s instead.
Is that LittleBigPlanet that’s for download the “Game of the Year” version?
HUGE PROBLEM getting “Free PS3 game 2.” When I chose to “get now” I backed out from THAT screen to check my HD space but when I returned to download second free game I could not choose a game. It was like I already downloaded a game in which I didn’t. Has ANYONE experienced this? If so, let me know, if not, PLEASE DO NOT EXIT FROM SCREEN. Just download you game and know the limits of your system first. Thank you…….
you psn people should have just gave us all codes for a $50 cards since we might already have all that stuff
Hey if i wasn’t mistaken i thought u guys said we were gonna got 30 days of Music Unlimited Powered by Qriocity too. R we gonna get that?
Where’s The Qriocity Part of the Welcome Back Or is it not avialible Anymore
K this is a big problem. I have the two ps3 games, and I enjoyed em. But I am trying to get killzone over to my psp and it wont let me. Problem is it gives me the same error code over and over. It’s the same error code that pops up when the store is busy.
4384-No problem. And yes, we have alot of Sony’s products. Some include PS3, Sony 3D TV, a couple dvd players and a Sony Vaio. That’s just what we have right now. Had alot of other Sony stuff over the last 20 years. Us personally haven’t had any issues with Sony’s products. Luckily for us we had no problems with the welcome back package.
As for crap happens, yeah Nintendo was hacked a day or two ago by the same group that hacked Sony. I hate to say it but hackers are showing companies faulty or not enough protection with their systems.
Sony obviously needs to re-think some things and think about all their customers.
Watch out! If you accept the tokens for the free games and your hard drive is full or you do something else before hitting download you will lose all you tokes for the free games. Yup they all vanished because I picked them all up first then went to choose a game. Luckily I only lost the PSP ones because I hit download on the PS3 ones before my hard drive was full. Will Sony be resending them them?
4386-No it is not the Game of the Year Edition.
I am about to sell that piece of crap. Every freaking game is lagging like crazy. I don’t freaking care, that everyone is downloading old, not even good, BUT FREE (yeah) games.
I tried to download my second game but can’t access it….on the welcome back screen it says I’ve downloaded it already but on the download list it doesn’t show up. Any tips?
4396 because psn is full of s**t
@4394 Thanks!
Im not having trouble but Did anyone pre-order modern warfare 3 yet I did. I just want to know who will have it
did anyone pre-order modern warfare 3. Im just curious who is going to get it
sorry said that twice
If u make a account after every thing will u not get it and i know this has nothin to do with this but when will new maps for black ops come out
I only have a PSP Go and an old PSP 2000 model. Both have separate PSN accounts. I dont have a PS3 yet. So I got the two free games for both my PSPs in the welcome back download section. My problem is… I can’t find the free 30 days Playstation Plus download button both on my 2 PSPs and the Media Go on my Home PC. Am I not included in the free 30 days PS Plus welcome back program? How do I get the free 30 days PS Plus, if I only got Media Go and 2 PSPs? My work intends me to be outdoors six days a week, so I dont see me enjoying a PS3 in my house a year or two from now, but I still carry my portable PS One outdoors. Yeah! Help please! I’m a Playstation fanboy forever! My PS2 is still in mint condition and the whole 80 dvd games I collected.
4399-We pre-ordered it and it is paid for. We also paid for Rage, Uncharted 3 and Skyrim. Skyrim is our main one though due to Elder Scrolls are good games. Also Modern Warfare 3 just because we liked 1 and 2. Too many good games coming out this holiday. Also we are thinking about getting the new Assassins Creed game.
4402-June 10th good sir.
well its saying error ….the store is not opening at all …
Man i got DeadNation and inFAMOUS and man, i gotta tell you… INFAMOUS TAKES FOREVER TO DOWNLOAD! i already downloaded deadnation and infamous needs to hurry. sony should’ve fixed that problem while they were fixing everything else. anyways i dont need 30 days more of playstation plus i was just about to go to walmart and renew it.. but ok.
P.s: this is my absolute first time commenting on these posts
@4345 No its not in my download section.
And inFAMOUS is STILL downloadin after like 5 hrs!!! Maybe that is due to the fact my isp is so slow!! Thank you for that AT&T lol