In a letter to all their developers, Sony made it clear that they will ban games that are merely designed to give players a Platinum Trophy from the PlayStation Store in the future. All information about this can be found in this article.
In a letter dated November 21, 2022, Sony Interactive Entertainment made it clear to their developers that they would immediately remove so-called “Shovelware”, as well as games that are merely designed to give players a Platinum Trophy from the PlayStation Store in the future. Furthermore, the PlayStation makers made it clear that the developers of such games also run the risk of being banned.
An anonymous source sent the magazine DEX.EXE the aforementioned letter, which you can also view here:
This is what the letter from Sony says
In the letter to their developers, Sony Interactive Entertainment made it clear what they are after. Customers should be able to experience the full range of the PlayStation experience, while developers should have a fair opportunity for their games to be discovered.
Nevertheless, the PlayStation makers also made it clear that spamming the PlayStation Store with too many similar and repetitive content from one developer could negatively impact the user experience of their customers and partners.
How does Sony define spam? Sony also revealed what criteria they use to classify products as spam or repetitive content:
- Products whose functionality and/or assets do not significantly differ from products already present in the PlayStation Store – regardless of the publisher
- Multiple concepts and product variations published by individual partners that duplicate features or experiences and only differ marginally in their functionality or assets from other games
Furthermore, Sony recommends in their letter that their partners – whenever possible – should consider consolidating small and similar contents into a single, larger product. As an example, the Japanese company pointed out that various trophies for very similar games are not enough to differentiate content from one another.
Players suspect a connection with the new loyalty program
What do the players say? The initial reactions to Sony’s announcement have mostly been positive so far. In the r/Games subreddit, users praised the decision: The Shovelware had gotten out of hand (via reddit).
Others mocked the already poor quality of the games that will be banned in the future:
Another user raises the legitimate question of whether the decision was influenced by Sony’s new loyalty program “PlayStation Stars”. This is quite plausible, as earning Platinum Trophies brings bonus points that can be redeemed for discounts in the PS Store.
What do you think of Sony’s announcement? Do you think it’s good that Sony will be removing those games from the PS Store and could penalize developers of such games? Have you perhaps already played a game that directly gave you a Platinum Trophy?
Feel free to let us know in the comments!
