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 the steps noted but I thought I was ok until I tried to download Dead Nation as my frist choice and my second choice got taken. lol I’m not mad but confused. I should have known better to download when so many and too many people are going to be downloading at once. I hope Sony fixes the issues I have with my second download.. and I hope I still have my first too. Can you please help us, Sony!?
Nevermind. Comment #16 is all I needed. Thanks again Sony!
hey! why can i only get 1 ps3 game now??
Yeah, I Kept Getting An Error Code Too… But I Did What Kristi Texted About In Her Response On Page 1 And Went Manually Into Account Management And I Had To Keep Trying A Bunch Of Times To NOT Get An ERROR Message. And NOW… I Am Finally DownLoading KILLZONE LIBERATION Into My PSPGo!!! THANK YOU KRISTI!!!!!! And Thank You SONY For Ending The Month Of Me Not Being Able To BUY PATAPON 3!!! AWESOME GAME!!!!
THANK YOU!!!
(Awww… Sorry Jeff For Calling You A “Fish Faced Creep”, I Get Angry EASYLY…I Don’t Turn Into The Hulk…Or… Tom Green. I Guess THAT’s A GOOD THING!!)
I have to use media go to download games, and under welcome back it says “No content was found”……….
i thought they were supposed to have fixed these problems with errors
“Come on people its really not that freakin difficult. Account Management>Transaction Management>Services List>SCEA Promotions>Whatever games that you need. Thanks Sony, this is comin from the heart, it really is a good company, and keep up on that security next time.”
I SAID 3 TIMES, THIS DID NOT WORK FOR ME… I DID THIS ONCE, WENT BACK TO SERVICE LIST AND IT SAYS I HAVE ZERO REMAINING, AND WON’T LET ME CHOOSE A GAME……
It would be nice if I could get some help, instead of people saying the same stuff over and over
I went to download my first game and the store froze on me
when i signed back on it picked wipeout hd for me
a game i already own
i understand you are attempting to compensate us but it is only leading to further frustration
This is why Sony ROCKS!!!!!!!
Thank you very much I had that problem also and it did work I do have both games now… Much obliged!
+ Kristi Fernandez on June 3rd, 2011 at 10:07 am said:
Hi Naustradamus- Here’s the step to download your free games:
Select ‘Welcome Back Free PS3 Game 1′ and click on ‘Get Now’
Press circle to go back and select your first free game
Return to the Welcome Back page and select ‘Welcome Back Free PS3 Game 2′ and click on ‘Get Now’
Press circle to go back and select your second free game
Go to the XMB(tm) to play your free games
Make sure to complete the download of each title all the way otherwise you’ll have to go into account management>transaction management>services list>SCEA Promotions to download the games.
Hope that helps.
– Kristi
WAY TO GOOOO SONY. The store is not even accessible at this time. FU. You guys know what planning means?
One of my friends can see inFamous, I think maybe cause I have completed save data for a platinum trophy in it they felt like I couldn’t use it so they blocked it from selection? Or perhaps it’s the most popular title and everyone is downloading it at once, lol
Everyone make sure that if you weren’t able to download the games after selecting the Get Now option then go to Account Mangement in the XMB then choose Transaction Management and then Services List then SCEA Promotion. You will be able to select the promotional purchases by choosing select content. But at this time it appears as though inFamous just isn’t there. Let’s hope Sony gets things together fast. I wanna PLAY!!!!
OMG i cant get ANY free ps3 games now!! HELP!!!!!
Oh boy this should have been a staggered release in manageable numbers! this is FUBAR ! add me to the list of my games have all disappeared without downloading them yet and the continuous error message!
Hey, I accidentally went back and missed my chance downloading my free games. Is there a way that I can get a chance to try it again?
I already have all of those games, but i don’t have the disk for infamous any more so i’ll probably get that and get Killzone liberation on psp
Every time i try to download the welcome back free game 2 package it gives an error (80023103) what should i do ?
Ummmm I selected infamous and the store glitched on me…. now my Free PS3 Game 1 is missing from the welcome back program and Infamous is not in my downloaded titles……
I been having problems with the Ps Store, I log in and while I go through it, it is really slow and sometimes it gives this error and doent load the content that I was searching for. Now I cant even log in to PSN anymore!!!
My connection is fine btw, I checked everything already
Could someone please reply back to this
I WANT TO KNOW WHATS GOING ON!!!
so sony i just got a text from a friend… it says that your movie music/movies division was hacked yesterday and i million accounts and passwords were stoneln and tons of music cupons? He also says this was all unencrypted plain text. Comments????
Now please get Zipper to give us our SOCOM Pro stuff please. :)
its obvious the “welcome back package” has some technical flaws in it, almost everyone is experiencing the same thing… “AN ERROR HAS OCCURRED” … and we probably wont get a word about this on here until the blog people know whats going on as well. Hopefuly we can all get our freebie stuff. I myself already tried to get the two free games with no luck and i cant get into the my account and it shows up as if i already purchased the two free games yet i didnt even download them.
“WE ARE POSTING COMMENTS TOO QUICKLY… SLOW DOWN PEOPLE” hahhahah
to many ppl on it at one time it really going crash if some ppl dont wait to get on it
this is crap i got my plus and one game then tried to get the other one and it froze and i had to restart my ps3 and now its gone so i guess i only get one game
I’ve also now lost my Playstation Plus free 30 day trial. All I was able to get was my two free PSP games.
A question or two and why I’m asking.
Early on in the outage, the initial welcome back plan involved offering sales on items. Why did this change to just a couple free games?
Also, why did these particular games get selected, and why weren’t their more titles available? These games seem old and outdated. Most of them have already been played through by a big number of people. If I remember right a couple of them have been free trials for playstation plus subscribers before. They do seem to be in different genres of games but they don’t seem to be particularly covering of all the genres.
2 top down action shooters. 1 platformer adventure. 1 action adventure. 1 racer. It just seems rather lacking for good choices for every PSN user.
well i cant even get in the store i get code (80710D36) and on the psp i also get a code witch is (80431063) i hope this gets fixed..i also had trouble login in my psn account ever since the store came back up
Okay so, I know it’s been repeated multiple times that you have to have been registered before April 20th to be apart of the “Welcome back program”. But… I purchased my PS3 online on the 20th of April and since the network went down I wasn’t able to register until May 14th or 15th…I was very disappointed and didn’t expect it to go down for so long like everyone else and would have waited to purchase my ps3 if I knew it was going to last that long. So that brings me to my question: Will I be able to be apart of the Welcome back program? I waited so long to play online…..
I don’t know if this has been asked (or answered) and it might be a silly question, but my roommate and I each have a PSP so no problems there with our free downloads… but he also has his own account with his PSN ID on my PS3. Will each of us have access to two PS3 games of our choice, or just the PS3 owner and primary user?
Thanks in advance.
“Account Management>Transaction Management>Services List>SCEA Promotions>Whatever games that you need. Thanks Sony, this is comin from the heart, it really is a good company, and keep up on that security next time.”
THIS DID NOT WORK FOR ME… I DID THIS ONCE, WENT BACK TO SERVICE LIST AND IT SAYS I HAVE ZERO REMAINING, AND WON’T LET ME CHOOSE A GAME……
It would be nice if I could get some help, instead of people saying the same stuff over and over
Thanks sony for getting the store up, however I am having issues, a lot of the things on here arent working, luckily it looks like its not just me that its happening to…
what the hell sony!
the error code is ——->0x80023105 hope you can fix this sony
Question: I am trying to help my fiance reset her password but her email was hacked prior to the PSN issues and was forced to close that account. And now we cannot access the emails from Playstation. How do we go about changing her email in the PS system so that she still was receive her free benifits?
ACK!!! Your store is broken. I got CONSTANT errors while trying to select my game and now the options to select one are completely gone, I don’t have my game and the games aren’t listed in my download or transaction list.
I already have almost all of these games, the only one that i don’t hava is Dead nation, can i get another one?
I’m really MAD!!! @ ERROE (80710D36)!!!! Why!! Why!!!?????? I keep getting this awful error when trying to enter the store… All I do is go back and re-try, then after a few tries I’m actually able to get in the STORE… But thats not all… After I’m in the STORE I keep getting the same error when selecting a item… I re-try n re-try until I’m finally able to select n download… BUT!! The WELCOME BACK program is not letting me pick the GAMES!! I select the WELCOME BACK option and when I go back to select a GAME… The Games are nowhere to be found and the WELCOME BACK FREE GAME OPTION is GONE!!! HELP ME!!!!!!
it seems the the ps plus got through, but my first game pick got jammed, and i didnt get anything, it just mentioned that the service or the content wasnt available right now, so the selection of this dissapeared from the list, leaving me with just one game. what can i do?
nvm it works :D
Ps sTOrE StUCk AlReAdY mAN WTf
@THEDARKANGEL303…Sadly that is true..Was by the scumbag group LulzSec…And by the way peeps if your having problems be sure to check your downloaded list under Account Management
This is fantastic. I’m looking forward to finally trying the Fury add-on for Wipeout. Believe it or not, that’s the only PS3 game I don’t already have – but I say that with pride! All of these are great games; would be hard to pick if I had to.
EPIC FAIL!
please help… I clicked on the welcome back thing.. I chose it.. It said there is nothing to be chosen or something like that and it just dissapeared…the playstation plus works fine but I cant get my 2 free games! please help! )=
Another thing… When Ever I try to post my ADDRESS on my Account… It gives me an error… It says I need to submit a correct address… WHAT?? My address was correct and it was there before the outage… Now my Address is no longer there and I cant post it… BIG PSN ERRORS are getting on my nerves…
So these free games we are getting in the welcome back package, when we download them on our main system if we have another system can we download them again and put them on the other system as well, as long as it is the same account?
ITS NOT LETTING ME PICK ANYTHING CAUSE IT KEEPS SAYING ERROR
Looks like I’ll be waiting about an hour to grab inFAMOUS: Still have the 30-minute trial game from PS+.
…Whew, that was a rough patch with those errors.
Now it won’t even let me go to ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT, I just get the error message…. way to go Sony…