The PlayStation Store, like every digital gaming storefront, is susceptible to spam if the platform doesn’t proactively moderate it and ensure that it doesn’t happen. Well, Sony has finally decided to start with that proactive moderation, and they will be cracking down on any games that entail “spam and duplicative content.”
In a letter to developers, obtained by Dex.Exe, Sony stated that any partners, its name for developers publishing on the platform, who attempt to oversaturate the PlayStation Store with spam, such as duplicate variants of the same game, will be penalized as the company will clamp down on them and ensure that they receive a penalty for releasing spammy products onto its storefront.
In the letter, Sony gives two major points: products with functionality/assets that are effectively copied from another product and when any developers publish products that are simply duplicates of one another or contain no meaningful changes. Effectively, it doesn’t want asset flips on its service, and if it discovers that a partner has made use of asset flip techniques then their discoverability will be restricted, their content will be excluded from certain PlayStation Store privileges, it could be delisted, it may not be searchable, it will not feature in the “New Releases” section, and a host of other penalties that could come their way.
This has been done to limit the amount of “shovelware” on the service, which is content that was generally made through minimal effort and is usually there to bump up the number of releases by a studio or to provide easy Platinum Trophies to players who purchase these kinds of games for that exact purpose.
While the PlayStation Store is not as rife with shovelware as other stores, like Steam, it’s good that Sony is finally cracking down on these kinds of issues, because they do make the browsing experience on these services far worse for anyone who isn’t looking to scam the system. It also means that certain grifters are going to have a much harder time peddling their terrible work on the PlayStation Store. This is great news for all real gamers and real developers.
Justin van Huyssteen (@LC_Lupus)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed
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| Platform(s): | PS4, PS3, Vita |
| Publisher(s): | SONY |
| Developer(s): | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| Genres: | N/A |
| Themes: | N/A |
| Release Date: | 2020 |
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