UPDATED: Welcome Back Program Available Now – Details Inside

5,171 0
UPDATED: Welcome Back Program Available Now – Details Inside

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.

Welcome Back

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!

Comments are closed.

5,171 Comments

  • HELLOO it says that i cant get the game (an error has occured)or something like that thx ps3 4 lying to me !!!

  • Same problem as Naustradamus, both are gone and the only thing left in the list is the PSP games…I didn’t even get to choose which games, they just disappeared after I clicked on them.

  • it let me download ps plus but no my two free games wtf???

  • haha, I’m pretty sure Sony should have done this region by region instead of all at once.

  • Everybody, if it says that you have purchased it, or it says thank you, why don’t you just take a look at your download section. It was giving me the same problems, when I finally got back on, they both were their ready for me to download them.

  • I went to download inFAMOUS and I got charged on my credit card for it. What happened??? And can you please give me back the money that was taken out of my card cuz I need that money for my inFAMOUS 2 Hero Edition pre-order.

  • it got rid of my first free game and i didn’t even download it yet…

  • I lost both my game 1 and game 2! Can this be fixed?

  • I have the same issue as #34 went to welcome back free ps3 game 1, no games appeared, booted me out and it is no longer an option. what now? :(

  • I don’t mean to cause trouble or anything but I kept getting errors when I went to choose “Pick first game” and I wasn’t able to get it and then the same thing happened on game 2. So… o_o I really hope I didn’t get screwed.

  • just had a big issue …it let me click on “get Now” for the 1st free game, which I wanted to make InFAMOUS. When I clicked Cirlce to go back and download it, nothing was there and it errored on me pushing me back out….Free Game #1 disappeared, without getting a free game! I had to use the 2nd Free game for PS3 to get InFAMOUS, which almost did the EXACT same thing to me….guess I don’t get Wipeout HD + Fury, do I? I wanted that to be my 2nd game. I thought that we’d be able to select from games until July, not error out and option gone forever!

  • I don’t see Infamous on the PSN store.

  • I have the same problem, I selected the free games, went back to my XMB and there’s nothing. What did I do wrong?

  • My option for my 2nd PS3 just disappeared…

  • Sony… step up and answer these complaints… we all waited patiently for you this whole time, now nothing but headaches when you try and welcome us back… please don’t lose us all with this.

    Give us an answer as to why these errors are happening and why we have lost our free downloads!

  • same thing happened to me just now Solidus

  • IT WORKS!!!!! Thank you Sony.

  • I activated the Game 2 on my PS3 and it errored out. It’s now disappeared and I can’t download my Super Stardust… WTH?

  • I tried getting the first game, I went to the “ps3 game 1” option, it gave me an error message, and froze my ps3…. I restarted the system, went back to the welcome back selection, now the option for the “Free game 1” isn’t there…. only game 2…. What gives? Do I get cheated out of one of my free games? Please answer.

  • alright, so i just got LBP and i wanted to get InFamous but i forgot to download it, i got it but it wont let me download, so now i wont get the game :(, anyone of help?

  • Same here, no choice of games just get it now. WTF

  • All I got was Error codes…. now it wont even let me get a free game.

    You suck Sony…

  • WHY DOES IT SAY IT CANT BE ACCESSED BY MY ACCOUNT???

  • Okay, where’s customer support? now it says my $50 card is invalid, and i dont have it in my ps store wallet.

  • I exited the store to come back and see if that helped, and I got “An error has occured”

  • RinoRichardCroft

    Thank you very much
    but when will Parasite Eve be available for the PSN NA (North America) because it’s already available on PSN Europe since yesterday.

    Thank you.

  • Can you download the PSP games via Media Go?

  • @typical-hero
    It works. Follow the instructions on the reply on the 16th comment.

  • Yay for errors.. THANKS SONY.. great to always have errors :/ No free games for me lol

  • People, they are still performing system maintenance. Stop having faith in them; all they’re doing is leading us on.

  • An error has occurred
    (80023103)

  • I HAVE A PROBLEM!!

    I went to get the free PLUS and games off of the store and the connection timed out every time and now I CAN’T select them again when I try to go back!!!!!!

  • @16, I did the same thing, and now I’m stuck with no free games. I really wanna enjoy inFamous 1, again, and Dead Nation. Sony, please look into this and fix it.

  • yay….though i’m going to need to get a new harddrive, this 60 gig isn’t going to be enough ;p

  • Where are the games? I got both game 1 and 2 get it now and no games appear. And now the ps3 games disappeared. Did I just loose the games?

  • It didn’t let me pick my free games! After I hit the welcome back button on the free games category, it just took me to the main menu, and the category disappeared.

  • Yeah mine is all screwed too. I hit get now for both, it errored out and I too can’t download anything. What gives?

  • WTF!
    I did the playstation plus but there was an error and it said it could not be found at this time…and it disappeared! will it come back???

  • Just got an error when trying to grab PS3 game 2 and then the option to choose a game went away and I can’t get back to it.

    Fantastic job Sony. Sigh.

  • Also, I pressed Get Now for Game 1 and Game 2 while I was still at the Welcome Back screen. That could be why things got screwed up.

  • wtf sony, I’m sorry but c’mon. The psp titles are up there as choices but it completely took the ps3 choices away

  • YEAH BOYYY THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT !!

  • cant download the free games

  • No, cause if I get screwed out of my free games I will leave sony

  • Solid-Snake-Eyes

    I sold my physical copies of Infamous and LBP in anticipation of these Welcome Back versions. If I’ve lost my chance at Game 1 for good due to a glitch then I’ll be really upset.

  • The Playstation Network is experiencing a high level of traffic at the moment because of the Welcome Back package finally going live. At this time, you may be experiencing difficulty signing in, or accessing downloadable content from the Playstation Store. If you already tried to download a free game from the package and you are having trouble, wait a while until things start to calm down, the try again.

  • just tried to get one of the free psp games and im having the same issues as most people where there are no loosing of games to choose and now the selection is gone.

  • Ok so I’ve followed all the steps “get now” but then I get an error message and when I select the title it says “you must first select “get now” but then when I go back to the menu the “Free PS3 Game 1 option is GONE. Help! I didn’t get to select my titles!

  • The downloads errored and the fre plus and PS3 game 1 dissapeared from my list!

  • If anyone is getting the error pop up keep trying to load the store and it will eventually work, If you get the error while attempting to download a game and it fails check your download list, Mine failed on me but ended up appearing in the download list at which point I was able to download them without a problem.

Please enter your date of birth.

Date of birth fields