PlayStation has announced a new contest called The Playerbase, and it will allow winners to have their likenesses scanned to appear in PlayStation games.
This begins with Gran Turismo 7, but PlayStation said it will expand the program to include other titles from PlayStation Studios.
Here’s how it works: You can visit the Playerbase website where you’ll need to submit comments on why PlayStation is important to you. “Make it something from the heart,” Sony said. The company will then review applications and choose a “limited” number of people for video interviews.
After that, one person will be picked to have their likeness scanned at Sony’s Los Angeles studio (travel and accommodation costs will be covered) and then added to Gran Turismo 7 as an in-game character portrait for a limited time (see below for an example). The winner will also get to help design a Fantasy Logo and a unique vehicle livery, which will be added permanently to Gran Turismo 7. You must be 18 to be considered.
But how will Sony choose a winner? The criteria is quite involved. For round one, Sony will judge submissions based in part on “demonstrated engagement.” Entries will be evaluated based on a originality of written submissions, relevance to the theme of being a “passionate” PlayStation player, and “demonstrated engagement with the PlayStation brand.” This is judged on how much money you’ve given to Sony over the years in the form of “ownership of “PlayStation products, subscriptions, games played, and hours played.” For the Gran Turismo contest specifically, you also need to demonstrate “engagement” with developer Polyphony’s games, and that includes “ownership of games,” as well as hours played and Trophies obtained. Between 50 and 150 entries will be chosen for the next round, which is video interviews.
For this round, you will be judged on demonstrating an “authentic love for PlayStation” and citing specific personal details about your history with PlayStation. You’ll also be judged on how much you love Gran Turismo 7 and you’ll be judged on how well Sony thinks it can sell your story to promote itself by way of your interview being “shareable and entertaining content.” Your interview must also demonstrate that you are representative of PlayStation fandom in general. Judges will pick three people to advance to a third round. This is where Sony will notify one winner and two runner-ups, but even then, those determinations are only provisional. To win for real, you will also need to pass a background check, and if that comes back clean, you will also need to sign a release.
The winner of the contest will be revealed around November 2026, but Sony maintains the right to disqualify the grand prize winner at any time if the winner “commits any act that shocks, offends, or insults the public or any class or group thereof.” Any winner who then becomes involved in a “public scandal” could be stripped of the prize prior to its public unveiling. In other words, Sony doesn’t want a Milkshake Duck on its hands.”
“The Playerbase is our way of saying thank you to the players who make PlayStation what it is today,” Sony said. You can see the full terms and conditions of the Playerbase contest on Sony’s website.
Before this, Bethesda revealed that Shirley Curry, the grandmother who streams Elder Scrolls games on Twitch, would appear in The Elder Scrolls 6 in some manner.
The NBA 2K series, meanwhile, has allowed players to scan their own faces into the game for the past decade, and sometimes with terrifying results.
