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PlayStation is finally taking steps to clean up the massive amount of shovelware in its store. The company sent a letter to developers letting them know that shovelware, trophy farming games, re-skinned games, and not-actually-a-game games will be scrapped and removed. Developers offering this stuff for sale may also be prevented from releasing new products in the future.
An anonymous source sent DexDotExe a copy of the letter, which lists all possible violations of the new rules. It also explains how Sony will assess and enforce the new status quo.
If developers break the new rules and try to sell what Sony considers “spam” or “repetitive” content, Sony reserves the right to remove it or even terminate the developer’s PlayStation Partners account.
Shovelware isn’t just a PlayStation problem
It’s nice to see Sony taking steps to get to grips with this kind of content, even if it’s not exactly a new problem. For example, Valve is still struggling with it. Barely a handful of years ago, the fervor surrounding asset flips on Steam reached a peak. You can’t browse YouTube without seeing a commenter or journalist talking about the absolute deluge of games on the Steam store.
In one or two cases, those videos led to lawsuits.
I’m not against the idea, to be honest. If an indie developer wants to beat up a game with Unity resources and sell it for money? Well, more power to them. I’m sure some of them are learning how to build a game along the way. If they want to make some money at the same time? I’m all for it.
Where I think it becomes a problem is when hundreds or thousands of those storefronts clog up. It’s a bit difficult to navigate a store page at the best of times. Seen 2021 over 10,000 games released on Steam.
The PlayStation Store currently has over 3,000 titles.
If Sony’s new policy reduces shovelware and what remains are all excellent games? I’m pretty good at that too.
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