Sony Reportedly taking steps to ban Shovelware

[diskdocx]

Not sure if I can link to the site with the article, but it's up on Twitter. I'm sure other outlets will pick this up.

 

From the Twitter link

 

An anonymous source has sent us the following information that was included in the dev letter. In the letter, Sony Playstation states:

“SIE strives to ensure that customers can search and discover the full breadth of experiences on PlayStation, and that partners have a fair means of being discovered. When partners oversaturate or “spam” PlayStation™Store with many variants of the same type of content, it can negatively impact both the customer and partner experience.

 

Partner Requirements & Allowances
When SIE reviews the content submitted to PlayStation™Store, products that have the following characteristics are identified as “spam” or “repetitive” content:

Products whose functionality and/or assets are copied or are not meaningfully different from products already published on PlayStation™Store, irrespective of the publisher of record.

Multiple concepts and product variants, published by individual partners, that have duplicative functionality or experiences, differentiated only by minor variances of functionality or assets.

o Where possible, partners should consider aggregating small, similar content experiences into a single product, using in-game commerce to expand or extend the experience.

o As an example, supplying different trophies for each product is not enough to differentiate content.”

If any of the devs break these things mentioned above, Sony Playstation has said the following in that letter about the actions in place:

Content or partners found to have breached policy may be subject to the following enforcement actions:

• Content Excluded from PlayStation™Store Merchandising
• Discoverability on PlayStation™Store is restricted.
• Content does not feature in automatic merchandising placements, such as the “New Releases” strand.
• Content Delisted from PlayStation™Store
• Content is not searchable and can only be accessed via direct link on web and mobile stores.
• Impact on CertOps Process
• Content is not permitted to proceed to publication until policy violations are rectified.
• Review slot availability is affected.
• Content Takedown
• Content is removed from PlayStation™Store until policy violations are rectified.
• PlayStation®Partners Account Suspension or Termination
• Multiple rejections or takedowns may result in the suspension or eventual termination of a partner’s PlayStation Partners account.
• Suspension limits the ability to submit and publish new content. Existing published content can remain on PlayStation™Store, if that content complies with SIE policies.
• Termination of an account results in the removal of all content from PlayStation™Store.

 

At this time, take the above with a grain of salt until further information comes out.

 

If true, I'm sure this will please a lot of people

[Xillynoc]

Sure hope this is true/pans out to something. It won't be the end of the easy plat problem, but it'll grant us some peace.

[Sendai-Horatio]

There's going to be one hell of a last minute rush if sony sets a deadline to pull all these titles down.

[DesmaBR]

Gonna need a source for that.

 

Feel free to DM me

[ScintillaWolf]

Please, for all that is holy, be true.

[The Alchemist]

This is the only thing I was able to find: 

 

 

We first need to wait and see if this is true, and then wait and see if Sony enforces their word if it is. Hopefully it is true and action will be taken to remove these stains once and for all. 

Edited November 21, 2022 by The Alchemist

[jgm4789]

Im all for getting rid of the jumping stroke the Animal q type games. But i hope this doesn't screw over the legit indie games that have easy 30 minute plats. Ratalaika games have a lot of stuff thats fairly decent in spite of thier easy trophy lists so id hate to see them get screwed over as a lot of thier stuff is what i would consider a real game and not a heres a picture of a cat, click this 50 times for platinum. As theres a much bigger difference between awesome pea 1 and 2 then these jumping Animal letter games.

[Dry]

 

I know it's only a rumor right now but still... That was my reaction upon first sight of this topic's title.

[big-_-_-_-boss69]

Breakthrough Gaming LLC in shambles right now

[MidnightDragon]

Hope so. If true, about damn time, but better late than never.

Edited November 21, 2022 by MidnightDragon

[diskdocx]

32 minutes ago, DesmaBR said:

Gonna need a source for that.

 

Feel free to DM me

@The Alchemist has posted the source. The website is in the linked Twitter post. I have been advised that the letter is legit.

[Sunny]

Damn can already hear the crying coming  from the leaderboards direction.

[The Alchemist]

11 minutes ago, jgm4789 said:

Im all for getting rid of the jumping stroke the Animal q type games. But i hope this doesn't screw over the legit indie games that have easy 30 minute plats.

 

I don't see why it would though? There is nothing in the list of guidelines in the OP that states anything about easy games specifically. It's about "games" that are, for example; "differentiated only by minor variances of functionality or assets". And "supplying different trophies for each product is not enough to differentiate content.” In other words, asset flips, shovelware etc. Where would legit indie games fall under any of that? They wouldn't. This is a fear I see come up a lot in these discussions but it's completely misplaced and unfounded. So long as Ratalaika and other such developers follow the guidelines outlined in the OP then there shouldn't be any problems. This will specifically target the spammers who we're all well aware of by now, because if this is to be believed and if the stated guidelines are accurate, then the developers of the jumping/turbo/stroke etc. trophy apps are grossly breaking the rules.

[diskdocx]

8 minutes ago, The Alchemist said:

 

I don't see why it would though? There is nothing in the list of guidelines in the OP that states anything about easy games specifically. It's about "games" that are, for example; "differentiated only by minor variances of functionality or assets". And "supplying different trophies for each product is not enough to differentiate content.” In other words, asset flips, shovelware etc. Where would legit indie games fall under any of that? They wouldn't. This is a fear I see come up a lot in these discussions but it's completely misplaced and unfounded. So long as Ratalaika and other such developers follow the guidelines outlined in the OP then there shouldn't be any problems. This will specifically target the spammers who we're all well aware of by now, because if this is to be believed and if the stated guidelines are accurate, then the developers of the jumping/turbo/stroke etc. trophy apps are grossly breaking the rules.

^This

 

I don't see this having any impact on legit games. The only series I can think of that would fall into a grey zone would be the Break games. Technically they are all asset flip games, but they aren't really shovelware. The Fun and Run games, sure. But most indie games would be specifically excluded from this crackdown.

 

I think Sony has worded it well - Multiple concepts and product variants, published by individual partners, that have duplicative functionality or experiences, differentiated only by minor variances of functionality or assets. Really this is intended to deal specifically with the Jump/Stroke spam. Even Breakthrough gaming is unlikely to be impacted.

[SnowxSakura]

Best news I've seen all year. Hope they go through with it and remove all that garbage off the store

[the1andonly654]

In terms of leaderboards, the damage is already done imo, unless they plan to remove the already existing trophies. Good thing, a bit late though. 

 

 

 

 

[Saugeen-Uwo]

Boo ?

[Undead Wolf]

It should never have gotten to this point in the first place. Just seems bizarre to me that Sony let shovelware flood onto their storefront, reducing the visibility of proper games that had time & effort poured into them and irreparably damaging the trophy metagame for what amounts to mere pennies for them in terms of profit. Better late than never I suppose... I wonder if this means they'll be removing all the shovelware currently on the store or just stop them from getting released going forward? I would assume the latter. It'll be nice to have a usable 'New Games' section on the store again which hopefully means the good indie games will start selling better on the platform than they have these past few years. And hell, maybe this is the start of us retaking this hobby back from the trophy spammers too. That would be nice.

[DrBloodmoney]

37 minutes ago, jgm4789 said:

Im all for getting rid of the jumping stroke the Animal q type games. But i hope this doesn't screw over the legit indie games that have easy 30 minute plats. Ratalaika games have a lot of stuff thats fairly decent in spite of thier easy trophy lists so id hate to see them get screwed over as a lot of thier stuff is what i would consider a real game and not a heres a picture of a cat, click this 50 times for platinum. As theres a much bigger difference between awesome pea 1 and 2 then these jumping Animal letter games.

I agree with you - but it won’t.

 

The language of this letter is very clearly and very specifically targeting exactly the products and devs we all know are responsible for its requirement.

In fact, it’s curious that they appear to actually be using the term “spam” - that would seem to indicate that this is fundamentally stemming from the backlash in the community - via news articles, games journalism, and trophy forums.

 

It’s not a legal or even really an industry term I don’t think - it’s a colloquialism used largely by the trophy hunting community in this context.
 

That would suggest that the targets of this action do likely align pretty closely with the broad consensus on sites like this one.
 

 

[HuntingFever]

I hope they come through on this and start hitting these trash developers where it hurts, whilst cleaning up the store and removing all this garbage from sale.

[SnowxSakura]

9 minutes ago, Undead Wolf said:

It should never have gotten to this point in the first place. Just seems bizarre to me that Sony let shovelware flood onto their storefront, reducing the visibility of proper games that had time & effort poured into them and irreparably damaging the trophy metagame for what amounts to mere pennies for them in terms of profit. Better late than never I suppose... I wonder if this means they'll be removing all the shovelware currently on the store or just stop them from getting released going forward? I would assume the latter. It'll be nice to have a usable 'New Games' section on the store again which hopefully means the good indie games will start selling better on the platform than they have these past few years. And hell, maybe this is the start of us retaking this hobby back from the trophy spammers too. That would be nice.

I haven't even shopped in the store or sales due to having to scroll through all that trash trying to find something I would want to play. It is very frustrating

[Thrillhelm]

It would even the playfield if there is a full-stop. Sony could stop allowing multiple stacks. As long as the accessibility of these games is equal for everyone. 

 

[Sofa King]

I'm sure plenty of devs have been complaining to Sony about their games being buried under this avalanche of shovelware.

[MatThaRiPP3R84]

The Shovelware cheese is so damn easy even ratalaika games are getting lower rarity as time goes on. people are ditching 15 minute platinum completions for 30 second ones. Lol

[mega-tallica]

So that's cool, Sony actually does care despite what others may say. 

 

If true, I'm just glad this would mean an end to the pure toxicity these games brought to the trophy hunting community. It brought a lot of ugly out no matter which side you fell on and it's promising to hear we may finally be able to move on from this dark chapter. 

 

I'll believe it fully when I actually see these policies get enacted and how the developers they're targeting are going to react. It's laid out pretty soundly but if there's a loophole there to exploit, I'd imagine they'll attempt it. The Pig D Deluxe already changed the formula and created a "real game" instead of just clicking for trophies where you actually have to collect coins and whatnot. It's still shovelware disguised behind a skeleton of a game but they aren't really breaking any of the policies listed here until they make another game just like it, then it would be guilty of reusing assets and providing a similar experience I suppose just like all the other games they did. Instead of weeding shovelware out, these developers might just start adapting and evolving into the next iteration of shovelware. 

 

It's a good start though but I don't see this being the end of shovelware. It's just going to stomp out the most egregious examples that we currently have.