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!
now the waiting game starts!!! hahah
I keep getting errors everytime I open the playstation store. What should I do?
when is the store going to be back up completely it keep say erro code 80431063 i have to try a few times before i can get in the store just wont to know
@590 Same thing here, I got an error message when I clicked on the two games I wanted, so I back out of the store to try again, and when I came back their gone!!
I played inFAMOUS when it was new. in2008. Pun intended.
These other games.. well.. wipeout you gave away for free the first month of PLUS service. The other games.. meh. Not really interested at all.
So basically..
“Welcome back.. with a bunch of old stuff you’re probably not interested in and wouldn’t have bought anyway, so we’re really not going to lose any money that we would have otherwise made by giving these to you for free. Oh, and we still don’t know who “stole” your CC infoz. Love, Sony.”
Gee, thanks guys.
@OCDog45 you just have to wait theres tons of people downloading the free games, you just have to keep checking due to the huge mass of people trying to access the free games.
I tried to get my free game 1 and I get a message response that the “content cannot be selected at this time”
Is there an error?
Im getting tired of this GRR
well i did the transaction management thing and all that and still get a error code and see no game name or nothing
Well I restarted my PS3 and I got my PSN Membership so that’s good. I’m worried that I won’t get the games back though even though I haven’t tried yet. Here I go…
I finally got it to work, This is a disaster. Wow Sony, you really lost my trust.
PlayStation Network > Account Management>Transaction Management>Services List>SCEA Promotions
i got both games but the psn plus thing is gone and there is no icon of me being a plus member
It takes a hell of a lot of patience because of the constant error codes, but after 47 minutes I finally have my two free games in the download queue. Now to just wait.
Ok, now I just lost my option to a free game 1!! What’s going on Sony?
ugh, i tried to get psn + for my brother’s account and it timed out and now the option is gone, and teh account management method doesn’t work :/ it says that i have it and that it ends 7/3/2011, but I don’t have the plus icon and it doesn’t acknowledge that i hvae it……
my playstation plus subscription says it cant be downloaded please help !!!
Lmao oh well I don’t get any free stuff I’m out of town at a grad school conference for the next three day wow… talk about great timing smh oh well at least the store is back up…
hmm I didn’t get any error message.
I just went to PS Store > Welcome Back > Downloaded Welcome Back 1 and LBP, then downloaded Welcome Back 2 and Infamous. No error, and great download speed. Not sure why a lot of people are having a lot of problems/errors.
If it helps, I’m in Canada, LBP is around 2 Gb and Infamous is around 7Gb, both finished downloadin within an hour.
Account ERRORS everywhere.
Dang. Now the box is gone. Well. I’m sure Sony will fix this.
Should have rolled this “Welcome Back Package” out in regions like you did when the PSN was finally brought back online a couple of weeks ago.
wow cant even get the stuff on home it errors out cause ppl dont no how to wait
What a mess.
hope fully we can get our free games :]
now i cant get a second game… whats going on sony?
Okay question for Sony rep please. It said I must download free game thing first. I did that, clicked on the free game 1 and 2. Once I did this, I was not allowed to select any games or anything else. I use only ps3. Can you help please? This is all very confusing with the error messages. I can’t tell whether I got ps plus when I clicked or not. And it wouldn’t let me get the free games either.
Its not just you downloading theres thousands of other people all around the world trying to access the same thing you are just be patient and keep checking.
559
+ mrcinsc on June 3rd, 2011 at 11:35 am said:
First, Popfart?? That is the best your feeble mind was able to come up with? You might as well as be predictable and call me a no good N*****. Hmm ID Theft protection covers what you just said. Not to mention almost all CC companies were aware of the PSN breach when it happened and put themselves on high alert. That’s all you are entitled to be compensated for. I’m on a soapbox cause I have morale and a sense of humility? No, I think not. Grow up.
Same here, only psp games show up!
its working now ^^ thanks sony well american sony for explain us everything. my bad infamous, LPB, burnout paradise awsome XD
It is not working for me.
I went to get the free Playstation plus and I kept getting error codes.
Now i do not even have the option to get the package nor do i have it.
The same thing happened when I went to download the first free game from the welcome back package, it gave me an error code and now I have no option to get the game nor do i have it.
Can someone please help?
This is soooo frustrating!!!! hard to get em but at least its all up
@604 Yeah, my Playstation Plus is working, but the two games I picked are nowhere to be seen!
Great lost my 1st free game for my PSP I really hope I can get it back.
Oh poo.. I just lost game 2..
Going to download a few games while waiting for BF3 BETA that game is so sweet it makes me forget about those stinking haking scum !
AllThe problems they caused us al with the outage!
They should be forced to play old school atari for life in prison and pong ! and listen to the worst music in the world 24-7.
@#611 – I think you have 30 days to grab the free games.
We been Hood Winked!!
@625 Same here!
now i cant even go in my account it gives me the error (80710D36) too just like when i want to go in the PS store
PLEASE HELP!!! I wen through the settings and every thing added dead nation to my cart and now its saying that i never did andthe game is lost!!!
When the Network went down, games I’d purchased and downloaded disappeared from my XMB (Critter Crunch & Flower). Other free demos also disappeared (Lego Batman, Fist of the NorthStar, NBA 2K11 are all I remember now).
When and how will I get my games back?
SONY FIX THIS OMG! DAMN U GOT AMAZING SERVERS AND U PUT ONLY 1% TO THE STORE, BRING THE 100%! CMON
store cant hold this many ppl at one time everything crash it not post to handle this many ppl at one time why everything error some ppl need to wait or ur going make them take down store again
I sure hope Sony intends to update this lame duck welcome back package so it rewards all of their loyal customers and not just some / a few of them. Remember, this is supposed to win back our business. I guess they only need to win back some of us, not all of us.
New Rule: If you haven’t started your download, wait until I’m finished to start.
Thank you Sony for these things but how do i see any plus status ? for the psp?
Does this even have a plus service?
PlayStation Plus is only for PlayStation 3, but that’s not to say you can’t get content to use on your PSP, such as PS minis. As for the time left on your Plus status, you can check out the new end date for your Plus subscription in Account Management>Transactions Management>Sevice List>PlayStation Plus