PS5: Sony bans a large number of games in the PS Store – these are the games

In a letter to all of their developers, Sony made it clear that, among other things, they will be banning games from the PlayStation Store that were made solely to give players a platinum trophy. You can find all information about this in this article.

In a letter dated November 21, 2022, Sony Interactive Entertainment made it clear to its developers that they will immediately remove so-called “shovelware”, as well as games made solely 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 said letter, which you can also view here:

That’s in the letter from Sony

In the letter to their developers, Sony Interactive Entertainment made it clear what they are about. We want customers to have the full breadth of the PlayStation experience, while giving developers a fair chance to get their games discovered.

However, the creators of PlayStation also made it clear that spamming the PlayStation Store with too much similar and repetitive content from one developer could negatively impact the user experience for their customers and partners.

How does Sony define spam? Sony also disclosed the criteria they use to classify products as spam or repetitive content:

• Products that do not differ significantly in functionality and/or assets from products already featured on PlayStation Store, regardless of publisher
• Multiple concepts and product variations released by individual partners that duplicate features or experiences and differ only marginally from other games in terms of functionality or assets

Sony also recommends in its letter that its partners should – whenever possible – consider packaging small and similar content into a single, larger product. As an example, the Japanese group stated that different trophies for games that are very similar are not enough to differentiate content from one another.

Players suspect connection to new loyalty program

What are the players saying? The first reactions to Sony’s announcement have been mostly positive so far. in the r/Games subreddit users praised the decision: The Shovelware had gotten out of control anyway (via reddit).

Others scoffed at the already poor quality of future banned games:

Another user raises the legitimate question of whether the decision was influenced by Sony’s new loyalty program “PlayStation Stars”. That makes perfect sense, since earning platinum trophies brings bonus points, which in turn can be spent in the form of discounts in the PS Store.

What do you think of Sony’s announcement? Do you think it’s good that Sony will remove the games in question from the PS Store in the future and could punish developers of such games? Have you possibly played a game yourself that gave you a platinum trophy straight away?

Write it to us in the comments!