Sony to discontinue PS5 Accolades feature this fall

Sony Interactive Entertainment is shutting off a PlayStation 5 feature that virtually no one ever used — Accolades. Accolades, which were designed to promote better behaviour in multiplayer online games, will be removed sometime later this fall. No exact date has been given.

“In fall of 2022, the Accolades feature on PlayStation 5 will no longer be supported,” Sony said in the “important notices” section of its support website. “The feature hasn’t seen the level of usage we anticipated, so we are refocusing our efforts. We encourage the community to continue to send positive messages to one another.”

Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Hadn’t heard of the feature? You aren’t alone. Essentially, it’s an anonymous reward system that players can give out to players that were “helpful,” “welcoming,” “leader,” or a “good sport” in multiplayer games. Points are tallied and displayed on a player’s profile, and that’s all there is to it. Basically, just a way to encourage players to be nice to each other, like Microsoft’s Reputation system, but without a way to mark problematic players.

It seems like without any real benefits — or the fear of entering low-quality matchmaking queues — the Accolades system didn’t really work out.