PlayStation Store has been reported to remove games and Shovelware Easy Platinum
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The PlayStation Store will soon be getting a better quality control policy, judging by a letter Sony is said to have sent to developers.
Sony will soon crack down on simple platinum games and shovelware PlayStation Shop, according to a new report. These types of games are usually cheap, low-quality digital offerings that only exist to give the player a quick platinum trophy on their own. Sony has had a growing problem with shovelware for a long time as it has approved more and more games for release on the PlayStation Store.
An anonymous source has provided DEX.EXE with a letter sent by Sony to developers, explaining its new policy on “spam and duplicate content”, according to reports TheGamer. The letter defines what Sony considers shovelware on the PlayStation Store and how it will review games submitted for approval. Games that clearly copy the assets and functionality of other titles are guilty, as are partners that attempt to publish multiple variants of the same game. Sony also specifically states that providing different trophies for a duplicate game is not enough to differentiate it.
Sony’s new policy will punish makers of shovelware on the PlayStation
Those who violate Sony’s new policy will be subject to a number of potential penalties. These apparently include restricted visibility and discoverability on the PlayStation Store, the removal of the platform, and even the termination of the PlayStation Partner Program. Anyone who cancels the Partner Program will have all of their published content removed from the PlayStation Store.
Sony has previously pulled several titles from the PlayStation Store due to quality issues, but this app has been inconsistent, to say the least. Big budget pumps com Cyberpunk 2077 were removed from the PlayStation Store, while others like the GTA Trilogy remained available despite the trilogy’s countless technical problems. At the other end of the price spectrum, there are countless shovel parts that have hit Sony’s digital store and are selling for remarkably low prices, some for under a dollar. Many of these are still on the platform to this day.
That said, it looks like Sony is taking the first steps to clean up the PlayStation Store and implement better quality control. There may still be some trophy hunters out there who are perfectly willing to pay $1.50 for one-button mini-games to get the easiest platinum trophies possible on PlayStation 5, but those days seem numbered. Fans have often complained about how easy it is to inflate trophy levels thanks to the shovel and how it makes the trophy system feel pointless. Now that Sony is finally listening and taking action, its new trophy is based PlayStation The Stars loyalty program could be much more attractive to players.
Source: DEX.EXE (via TheGamer)
