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 PSP. Today, we’re excited to launch the Welcome Back program to thank you for your loyalty and below we’ve detailed what is available, how to go about downloading it and a list of frequently asked questions.
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 21, 2011) will be able to select two free games for the PS3 and two free games for the PSP.
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
- Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty
- 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
*For the German market, InFamous and Dead Nation will be replace with Super Stardust HD and Hustle Kings in the selection of PS3 games. Pursuit Force and Killzone Liberation will be replaced with Everybody’s Golf 2 and Buzz Junior Jungle Party in the selection of PSP games. Killzone Liberation will not offer online gameplay functionality.
How to claim your free games
- Go to PlayStation Store from the XMB
- Click on the Welcome Back banner on the Storefront or the Latest tab
- Go into the Welcome Back category and select the ‘PlayStation 3 Free Games’ item, and then select ‘Get Now’ on the following screen
- You will be taken back to the Welcome Back section where you will be able to select your two free games
- These instructions are applicable to both PS3 and PSP
In addition, we’re giving free access to our premium subscription service, PlayStation Plus, which includes free 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 had an extra 60 days added to their existing subscription at no charge. For current Plus subscribers, no action is needed as the 60 days have automatically been added to your subscription. Another additional 10 days will be added to your subscription in a few days’ time.
PlayStation Network users will also get a large number of free virtual items in PlayStation Home as a show of appreciation for your patience while Home was inaccessible. More information and will be available in the near future, so watch out for any announcements from the PlayStation Home team.
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 60 days of free premium subscription. Any Music unlimited free trial users who were affected by the outage will receive 30 days of service.
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 for 30 days.
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 for free as part of the Welcome Back Program?
A: None. These games are yours to keep.
Q: I no longer have the option to choose my free Welcome Back games. What can I do?
A: If you navigate away from the Welcome Back section of the store without choosing your free games or exit the store completely you may need to follow the below in order to choose and download your free games.
- On your PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Portable navigate to the PlayStation Network icon on the XMB
- Log into your PlayStation Network account and choose Account Management > Transaction Management > Services List
- Choose “PlayStation Network Promotions” from the list of services displayed
- Select either “PS3 Free Games” or “PSP Free Games” and then choose “Select Content”
You will be taken to the store to choose your remaining free games.
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: Do I get to keep the free 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: What content will be in PlayStation Plus when I activate my 30 days?
A: A full list of available PlayStation Plus content and discounts for our Welcome Back customers was detailed on the blog earlier this week.
Q: Where can I find the Welcome Back content in Home?
A: We are still putting our Welcome Back content for Home together and will communicate this soon. Check back here for more details – our aim is to give away content that has not been available before.
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!
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1,545 CommentsAdd Yours
51
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:24 pm by CodeMonkey_UK
Error! Error! Error!
Followed by “There are no items you can purchase at this time” i’ve tried the normal method and using the suggested services method.
PSN is bloody brilliant!
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:42 pm by James Gallagher
Maybe give it a little time to settle down.
52
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:25 pm by flashfumoLIVE
I got the PS+ but it never let me get any free games. And now the option has disappeared! What why why why why whyyyy I didn’t get anything! D:
53
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:25 pm by golfer199
I have playstation plus but the option to get the free games has disapeared and I can’t check the download list to see if I have downloaded it or not. I hope you have just taken down this feature for a hour or so due to increased traffic but I am worried I will not be able to claim my games. I really want to play inFamous to recap before the second one
54
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:26 pm by shakyhand
I purchased a 12 month PS Plus subscription yesterday so technically I’m an existing member but I haven’t had any extra days added to it except for the free 3 months that were part of the latest offer.
55
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:26 pm by Idamagaron
Awesome
This is great news! I did purchase a 15 Month Playstation Plus membership so extra time on top of that is fantastic, add to the fact I now have loads of free content this month and for the next 15-16 months is awesome-sauce 
I’ll have to wait until my partner comes home to discuss which games we’re picking up. Little Big Planet is a definite, however between Dead Nation and Wipeout HD + Fury, we’re not sure which one we want.
For the PSP I’ll pick up Little Big Planet PSP and probably ModNation Racers.
56
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:26 pm by spikkle
To everyone, in the store, select the “Free Games” icon under welcome back, then go out the store to accounbt managment, transcation then service list, like James said.
no other way to do it as selecting the free games makes the aactual free games in the store disappear, which is just stupid.
57
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:27 pm by spikkle
And I keep on getting ERRORS>
58
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:27 pm by Xx-_Exiled_-xX
wheres the socom 4 special forces abandoned DLC?
59
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:27 pm by nuttaone
@50 me too !!! livid
60
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:28 pm by BluSpykz
My PSP doesn’t have a “Welcome Back” section. And it’s getting a lot of errors assumeably because of the heavy traffic, which is understandable.
However, when I load up Media Go, and log in; and go to the welcome back section; it says “no content was found”
Does this mean I can’t get the PSP games despite having a 3-4 year old account?
61
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:29 pm by AGGERPAKKER
mine said an error has occured and then the offer was gone, any ideas what to do?
62
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:30 pm by ShinTetsu
I’m getting only error codes or “This content cannot be accessed at this time.”
63
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:30 pm by DBcoopmore
@58 same issue here.
64
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:31 pm by ggctuk
80551002. That’s all I’m saying.
65
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:31 pm by Doopz479
Infamous is going to take sooooooo long to download.
66
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:31 pm by flashfumoLIVE
Oh, I went to Transaction Management and whatnot and now it’s letting me download stuff.
67
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:31 pm by Azard300
My PSN+ opition has gone i went to download it & a error popped up & now its not there Help?
68
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:32 pm by steveeire
have they taken the icon for the games down
69
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:32 pm by nextbigthing91
Okay so I have a problem, I think 0.o.
I went on to the store, tried to claim my W/B package, got an error and left it, but the PS+ 30 days did work.
I followed the advise to go to services list which worked, but now I keep getting errors trying to download the free games. So if I exit again, will I still be able to try again later via the services list method?
Thanks in advance.
70
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:32 pm by Amherst_Wind_4
Wow, could you possibly have done this in a more convuluted way?? I have to download something to download something, but the first thing says theres nothing to download, and the second thing says I need to download the first thing!
71
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:32 pm by X201
James, you’re in for a long night here mate.
I’ll have a whisky in your honour.
72
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:33 pm by CodeMonkey_UK
Seriously if you can’t take a service down for 2 months and have a pleasant relaunch then just take the sod down forever and get someone in who can do it properly.
73
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:33 pm by Tobster_
James i clicked to get infamous i then received an error so i tried again and exited the store to find i had no games there i’v followed your instructions and when i get onto playstation network promotions->playstation 3 free games it says i have 0 remaining but i haven’t got any please help.
74
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:33 pm by Fredie44
what!! black ops escalation map comes out next friday
75
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:34 pm by CasperH01
Posting this again as I was too late last time
Hi James,
A couple of weeks before, someone on this blog promised that everything (discount and Plus wise) would be the same as it was when the store went done.
You just broke that promise by having the april content only up for existing members.
My plan was to subsribe at the end of the month so I could have (almost) a month access to the same stuff before my membership would expire (instead of having 10 days access to new stuff).
I kindly ask you to reconsider this as this was not part of the promise.
Best regards,
Casper
76
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:34 pm by Anders502
Watch out folks, i’ve just been hit for 32 quid while trying to download these games and sony have told me in no uncertain terms that they will NOT carry out any refund!!
Absolutely shocking!!
77
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:34 pm by CodeMonkey_UK
you can’t even exit the damn store without error! error! error!
78
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:35 pm by Opt1mus76
Well I’ll be honest and say that while the selection of games is rather good, they also seem aimed more at the new and casual gamers. Long time owners and regular gamers are more likely to own these titles already because they are good but they aren’t recent releases and several have been offered at discount to Plus subscribers already. Just my personal opinion and I know a lot of people will disagree but as someone who spends a lot of money on store and games I’m kinda missing out because of my loyalty/gaming habits
79
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:36 pm by mike_slate-21
i cant claim the PS+
80
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:37 pm by Stocko
Everybody chill out the traffic is making the errors, its gunna be busy so stop whining the icons will reappear if you exit and go back to the store!
81
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:37 pm by KRyPTceltrix
thanks James, your method worked!
82
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:38 pm by ryannumber3gamer
hey i tried to get my free psp games and the welcome back stuff didnt come up just the ps3 stuff
83
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:38 pm by Tobster_
people i have just found a way to download the games if you are like me and exited ps store to see if your games where in your games folder and found out they were not tried to access th ps store again and the free games icon is gone then do the following:
account management->Transaction management->download list
now you can download them again this is currently working for me as i am downloading infamous and dead nation
84
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:38 pm by HazelAM
sweet, playing dead nation right now.
just one problem, i go to the welcome back section on the psp store and there’s nothing in there.
i’m using media go if that makes any difference.
85
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:39 pm by stargateheaven
Store is going ULTRA SLOW as expected.
Hope everything will be ok lol.
86
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:41 pm by windsorblue01
getting getting only error codes or “This content cannot be accessed at this time for the free app guess ill try when it calms down
87
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:42 pm by vbmundial95
Hi, great news! Does the “Wipeout HD + Fury” mean that contains the original PSN game plus the dlc free? Is this version 3D compatible with the lastest patch?
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:48 pm by James Gallagher
Yes to both.
88
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:43 pm by TonyBest100
Im just downloading my two free games now, although it took a few minutes for it to start, probably due to everyone doing it at once. Glad the PS store is back up and running though
89
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:45 pm by whiteonfire
I cannot get any free games it errored so I reloaded the PS store and now all I can see if PS Plus…
90
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:46 pm by acousticguy92
OK READ THIS!!! I skipped what James had posted earlier but this is what happens.
Enter the PS Store. Choose the Welcome Back package. Once you select the “Free PS3 Games” package, it will disappear from the store.
Now follow these steps.
1. On your PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Portable navigate to the PlayStation Network icon on the XMB
2. Log into your PlayStation Network account and choose Account Management > Transaction Management > Services List
3. Choose “PlayStation Network Promotions” from the list of services displayed
4. Select either “PS3 Free Games” or “PSP Free Games” and then choose “Select Content”
If you get error messages, all you need to do is make friends with those O and X buttons. Keep retrying.
Hope this has helped to reduce some questions James.
91
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:46 pm by jazzy734
So the Welcome Back content will only be available from 3 June 2011 to 3 July 2011.
Should I active now or wait till the last day when there are ‘better’ content available for PlayStation Plus?
92
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:47 pm by SmoggyPhil
The Store, she cannae take the strain!
Best wait til Sunday or something. The Stores going to be overloaded.
93
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:47 pm by kon1103
Argh…
Cant access to store cuz so many people there at this time.
94
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:47 pm by jazzy734
active=activate
95
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:47 pm by OMC-MUMBLES
i cant go into Account Management its giving me a error ps3 sucks been here from the start and starting to think why i got a ps3 there is allways a prob
96
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:48 pm by stargateheaven
I managed to go in, get my 2 free games, slowly, but surely.
97
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:48 pm by nextbigthing91
Ah never mind fixed it =).
Note to all – If you get errors trying to download anything, exit and try to get into account management > Download list and download it from there, you might get a couple errors trying to access it but it seems to be working better that way than through the store ^^
98
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:49 pm by the1free_man
@acousticguy92: fishing for a job, mate?
99
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:49 pm by jazzy734
So the Welcome Back content will only be available from 3 June 2011 to 3 July 2011.
Should I activate now or wait till the last day when there are ‘better’ content available for PlayStation Plus?
100
Posted on 3 June, 2011 at 6:50 pm by Nightmare966
Had the Download error where you can’t go back, however managed to see the helpful Answer you’ve posted in other sites. Thanks for the hard work guys! And beware the High Traffic!
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