As many of you will no doubt be aware, the PS Store has become overrun with copy-and-paste games, the majority of which exist to dole out 60-second Platinum Trophies. Browsing the New Releases section of the PS Store has consequently become a nightmare, as you’re inundated with multiple permutations of the exact same game.
It’s become a real problem, burying more legitimate games. While we don’t necessarily agree with heavy-handed curation – who’s to decide whether a game should exist or not? – we pointed out recently that Sony does have a real problem on its hands finding an adequate solution to this. We suggested some smart changes to the way the PS Store surfaces content could help.
And earlier this week we noticed the firm has already made an adjustment. Both on the browser-based PS Store and PS5 app, the New Games ribbon is now sorted by Best Selling as opposed to Release Date. This means, at the time of typing at least, you’ll see games like Cult of the Lamb and Arcade Paradise rather than The Jumping Noodles Turbo and The Pig Quiz.
Now the key detail here is that the latter games still exist, and can be found fairly easily with a couple of clicks, but the default filter is a little more useful for the average user. Obviously there’s a lot more work to be done here, but as a temporary stopgap solution, we’re impressed by the speed at which Sony has adjusted here.
Comments 84
This doesnt solve/make anything better because now small, new Indie Games that arent Top Sellers get burried. They should either forbid those types of Games or massively limit the amount Devs are able to submit every week (in the last 3 days alone 11 new of those Shovel Ware were added to the Store) Even the Eshop has less trash and their cheap Games at least are actual... Games.
Lemme just ignore titles thx
So they wasted time and just put a band-aid over it. Cool.
How about they actually do something about it instead? The store is such a ***** show with all the cheap quiet literally garbage games. Meanwhile there are legit, cheap good games being buried under it at all. There's no standard here. ZERO quality control.
Let’s fix the problem by making the existing visibility problem for small games that are legitimately good worse.
I'd like a button that lets me filter out games under £2.
How about a setting where you can press "My Store" and it will let you (for instance in my case) only have games over £2,
that are new, with platinums, and not in the puzzle genre.
An easy way to see at a glance what will interest you.
I tend to agree with the comments. This makes the situation worse for genuine, smaller titles that don’t have a marketing budget backing them. Poor solution.
About 80% of my wish list are games that I found on the new releases section of the PS App homepage. Too many clicks now to check what the actual new games are. And you know more casual gamers are never going to know this change happened so will just straight up never see those legit small indies.
Is there a particular reason why we have had this influx of rubbish on the ps store? A few years ago it Steam having this trouble
Some ideas for actual fixes to the problem:
@Milktastrophe on that same subject of not listing different platform versions of the same game separately, why on Earth did they change the home screen to show mukti platform games separately instead of being able to choose the version via the ootions button? Frankly that was a dumb move on their part and it should be restored like that on the home screen and the store!
Innit really a "New Games" ribbon if it isn't sorted by release date anymore, though, is it? There's nothing inherently wrong with headlining your store with a What's Hot banner instead of a New Releases one (well, except for the self-reinforcing feedback loop it creates), but you've gotta call it what it is.
Like others have said, this isn't a fix. New releases section is for the newest released, not the best selling ones. I get that it's to hide the shovelware, but there's a much better solution to the problem like the person a few of comments above me said. Ban the shovelware developers. I'm guilty of buying some of them for a time to get cheap platinums, but that was only for a short time, and it has gotten way out of hand since.
The whole point of the New Games section is to see what the latest games that have come out, mostly indie games that are digital only. It's easy to miss some of these games coming out, but now like somebody said, some of them will get buried.
The actual solution is to have someone refuse games access to the platform which are clearly just trying to make a quick buck from trophies,
Sony have no problem having someone manually review and refuse licenses for games that have a bit of cleavage.
Priorities are seriously messed up.
@Anke
We do have that setting.
Maybe they could just make a separate section called "Brain Dead Platinum City" or something and just put all of this shovelware there. Some might say this is mean but the devs of these games know what they are doing and the people purchasing them know what they are getting. Let's not pretend these game had a huge amount of effort put into them.
Hire someone at Playstation to curate this stuff away from legitimate games and everyone is happy!
@rawzeku maybe they're working on a longer-term solution. Little bit of patience on your end wouldn't go a miss...jeez.
While I used to go for easy platinum trophies, these shovelware easy platinums aren’t something I would’ve even done back in that day, but I do realize the market exists because there are those who would pay under $2 for a quick one minute platinum to add to their list of completed games. It doesn’t really have that same feeling of accomplishment tbh when it’s just MASH X(or something similar) til the platinum pops. While I do have some of those platinums it doesn’t give the same feeling as getting the one for Rock Band 4, or Horizon Forbidden West, or Witch and the Hundred Knight, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Kingdom Hearts, etc just due to the fact there’s no real work involved outside of pressing one button mindlessly til it pops. I was going for those easier ones to try and keep up with a friend and then I just decided earlier in the year it’s not worth it and it doesn’t feel great so I’m just enjoying my games now and if the platinum could be fun and worth the time investment then I’ll go for it but I’m hoping the shovelware goes soon. I understand some easy platinums are just because they’re story based games that require you to play the game and maybe find a thing or two throughout your playthrough, but at least it’s not mindless.
Atleast they're listening. Still would have hoped that they removed Life of Black tiger though lol
@thefourfoldroot1 Yeah lol, Sony has been curating, censoring and refusing to let Games go on sell on their Platform for years so I see no problem to also do this to those ""Devs""
Yeah this isnt ideal for smaller titles - particular for gamers less invested in following gaming news. And whats to say Sony isn't curating the 'best sellers list' to those titles that have paid to be featured etc.
Thank Christ for that. It was becoming a bit of a joke really
Let's be honest, how much can we expect a non marketed small indie to even succeed? Marketing and advertising is everything. It doesn't matter if you show up first in the store, if you don't have anyone talking about your game on social media prior to it releasing and you don't have streamers streaming it once it's out then the likelihood that your game will see mass appeal will be very low. People seeing your game at the front will just go "Oh what's this? Never heard of that...oh hey I know this next game!"
@Korgon Adding a layer of sorting would definitely help, and while I think your category title is spot on, they could go with “bite size” or maybe resurrect the “minis” title to separate them from the herd and keep (almost) everyone happy.
Shovel ware 60 second trophy games are the same as NFT’s and ‘horse armor’ DLC, as long as peeps keep buying this trash they’ll never go away!
@ATaco showing up first in the store is free marketing though, especially because the PSN blog no longer shows off the new releases each week. Just because they might need additional marketing still to succeed doesn't mean it's ok to remove some of their opportunities to get the game's name out there.
In the new section of PS store having a list of seperate new game releases for exactly what category they fall under so you know exactly where the genuine best and decent new releases are
New triple AAA(last 6 months)
New double AA(last 6 months)
New indies(last 6 months)
New releases under £5
New releases under £2 (trash)
By default going into these new release sections last 6 months will be newest releases at the top
Of course if there's a really good or decent small indie game at £5 or £2 then it will be in the new indie releases not in amongst all the press one button trash
Wow I guess nobody here sees the true problem with the Playstation store. The complete lack of game releases period. We are how long into the PS5 era? Where are the games? I dont own one yet as I have no reason to go out of my way to "obtain" one. Same goes for Microsoft, they dont get off easy either, especially considering they forced the rush of the Next Gen. Game Pass has been utterly crap as of lately, I dont care what anyone says. Releasing games that have been on other platforms for ages. If it wasnt for these crap games there would be no releases some weeks.
@CRuSHeR2K Yes, coming up for 2 years and there are still only 5/6 games that are PS5 only? Most of the new releases still support PS4 with Pro enhancements so I'm set until something comes along that's of interest - long time waiting.
On the subject of the web PS Store, it is still a heap of sluggish poor UI garbage anyway. Comes to something when the PS4's built in store is still the best one out there...
The new games section now doesn't show games released in order by date, Stray is first yet it was released last month, rumble verse which came out on Thursday wasn't even there and had to search for it by name, I want the newest releases at the front
@CRuSHeR2K given what happened to the world in early 2020 combined with new big releases already taking at least a few years to make its no real surprise we get delays and big chunks in a year without any big ones. It should go without saying you can't expect new big triple AAA releases every single month from PS, Xbox, Ninty and PC
@Milktastrophe
Would be interesting to know the click-through rates for people browsing on the PSN store. Do people know what they're looking for when they open the store? Do they click everything that seems interesting? Do they only skip to games they've heard about before? Unless we were to become privvy to those stats it's pure speculation either way wether it actually helps them any considerable amount or not.
Like everyone else, not sure adjusting the default sort settings really fixes anything but it does show they know it's a problem so maybe a more long term solution is being explored. Guess we'll see.
I'm somewhat hopeful, though as usual, just a small bit of communication from Sony would go a long way.
My solution is what's new should have its own tab so it's instantly expanded and it's straight away in order of what's come out that month, most recently in order and despite market deals in this tab it's just in order of release. shovelware games can not be in this section at all only way to see them is going to full ps5 or ps4 list
@BeerIsAwesome ahh hang on, I've just realised you can click them all bar the lowest ones!
After all this time! It took your picture to snap it in my brain though so thanks for that
@thefourfoldroot1 unbelievably I've only just realised you can click more than one of those buttons at a time
They should make an extra tab page for AA and indie titles to give them their own big exposure and easy to find sections
So far none of the digital stores has an answer for this. Steam, Eshop, PSN, etc. all have these shovelware asset flip games constantly being thrown onto them and unless they break any rules there's really no reason to shut them down. Unless you have something like that GoW ripoff that got taken down off Xbox It could be worse, at least the PS store doesn't have dozens of crappy porn games hogging up the new releases chart every week like Steam does.
The reason "easy trophy" games exist is there's a market for them. Someones, somewhere are buying them up. As for the store and its curation, don't people know what they want before shopping? Or are they "virtually" walking up and down the aisles looking at stuff, wondering what to buy? If it's the latter, close the store and play some games, dammit.
Literally fixes nothing. If you wanna see new releases, then you're still met with that crap. Let us just blacklist or hide publishers/Devs from the store.
You would think with “ai” “machine learning” “neural processors” the PS stores ability to show similar titles to what you are looking at you could just click a button on one shovelware title with the text “do not show this and similar titles”.
Like the majority of comments I agree that this is both good and bad insofar as we may be free from endless jumping food and lettered animals but unless a game sells well like, say, the recent Stray it’ll still be lost amidst all the lazy trash.
And yes, I have got all three I Am Mayo Platinums but even I’d never stoop so long as to fill my trophy list with this relentless barrage of garbage. In fact I’d say that since I’ve had my PS5 I’ve seen the store slowly become less enticing and more packed with cheap tat that would insult last last gen let alone current gen. Yes, I get that “retro” is kinda cool and I’ve enjoyed many indie titles without the need of fancy visuals and 60FPS but so many weeks have found me perusing recent releases only to wonder quite when we’ll get more titles that utilise the new tech and don’t just churn out another lane platformer or an uninspiring RPG …
Good. My friend legit had to go digging on ps4 store to find cult of the lamb yet for ps5 it was showing easier
@GhostCoast your profile pic 🤣👍
@ATaco True. if anything I'm guessing the click through rate went into the toilet after these garbage games started gaining prominence, which gave Sony a justification to replace the new releases section with a best selling section. Give people quick access to something they're actually clicking on.
I wouldn't be surprised if that's the actual reason for the change, Sony saw people aren't buying that crap compared to when it showed real games, not that they're responding to complaints about the existence of this crap. After all, they have even announced about trying to get engagement numbers back to peak COVID or something or other.
@Northern_munkey ✌️😏
this would all easily be sorted if Sony dont allow these type of games to be given platinum's. they would sell way less if they didnt include a platinum
Some great games dont have platinums and rubbish like this its given to you in 30 mins
Games shouldn't have more than one listing. One unified page and then you can select if you want the PS4 or PS5 version, standard or digital deluxe and so on.
Steam has a solution for this, it's called user reviews, and ignoring games.
@LiamCroft
Well that could be, but when I look at myself I always look good in the store. I always filter through that cheap junk and take the time to really study indies I like.
@thefourfoldroot1 So you complain about Sony's censorship but yet you want these games to not be on PSN at all?
Just make a section called a plat is a plat. The common phrase used by the morons who defend these titles. Thats how you filter the total crap
Omfg. No matter what they do it's never enough your never gonna be pleased and always complain. You ppl need to grow up. Wait your already in your 30s and still whining like a child. Also those new gems little games yall are taking about search them up there's a search bar for a reason then buy them what I always do myself simple and ***** easy boom there you go. Jesus christ yall complain everyday get a new hobby then cuz gaming isn't for you clearly
@Milktastrophe first 2 yes but no ban. We're not China here and I will never support any censorship or banning lol if you do wow
@CRuSHeR2K um ps5 only- ratchet and clank rift apart for me is why I would buy a ps5, ps5-demons souls next Gen only. Ps5-returnal is freaking amazing, ps5- deathloop, ps5- ghostwire Tokyo, just to name a few. Next Gen only is coming literally if you research even a little they said God of War ragnorak is the last big ps4 game. Afterwards all ps5 from then on. Like forspoken, and Gotham knights and more all ps5 only games baby!
It’s better than nothing but still nowhere close to a good fix. At least they have acknowledged a problem does exist. Now, I hope they find a better solution to not adversely affect indies from getting their chance to shine. Sony should utilize the “Collections” section in the PSN Store more than the lazily created lists they have. The lists are so hit & miss in quality.
When you guys posted before and after pics, you always post the new one on the left and the old on the right. It should be reversed since English is read left to right. It's just weird the way it's done on this site and confusing. Same thing with the TLOU 1 comparison screenshots
I wish I had an answer. I rarely use the store for finding new games, rather use sites like this one and others, or youtube, etc. But there shouldn't be so many crap games to wade through for shoppers.
Would be great if Sony added a publisher/dev filter at profile level. Loved a previous game, then sign up to notifications for future releases. Don’t want to see anything from them, hide everything.
@auditor01 Huh, that's interesting feedback, I didn't actually know there was a common way of doing this.
Thanks, I'll edit that.
By the way, I agree with the comments pointing out this isn't really a fix (hence why I described it as a "stopgap" in the article).
Clearly they're going to have to come up with a much better solution for this, and I really don't have a clue what to suggest.
At least this alteration is a little more useful to the average player, though, in my opinion. You've got to imagine most people are looking for Cult of the Lamb and Arcade Paradise this weekend, not Taco Fun.
@SerJosh97 have you "played" any of these? They're not games so why should they be allowed in a digital game storefront?
@get2sammyb appreciate it! I'm pretty sure that's right unless somebody else knows any different.
@BartoxTharglod let us know how much enjoyment you get from The Pig Quiz. From PSNP, looks like the average playtime is less than 10 seconds.
Its still a problem on PS4. Sony could end these games easily by putting some standards for being aloud to have a platinum in your game. Kind of like they did on the PS3. These games would cease to exist without a platinum trophy.
@AdamNovice
These aren’t games
@BartoxTharglod I agree there's nothing inherently wrong with quiz games. I used to like You Don't Know Jack but haven't played one in probably over a decade. But I'm not surprised to hear this one is barely put together. At least you can say you tried it (well, if you want to keep admitting that!).
That's cool they had some interesting facts listed, but I guess you might need to fact check the stuff they had. Pigs don't have two necks, just one. It's just big enough that butchers can divide it in two to get two of the same cut of meat. This seems to be a common misconception online though.
Batting the unashamed cash grab trophy 'games' off the store altogether is the ideal solution, but I suppose if we must put up with them to support the indie developer can do anything ideal this is better than nothing.
@BartoxTharglod what a great review. I admire your enthusiasm.
@BeerIsAwesome yeah that would be good, as would reviews from confirmed purchasers too.
This is a problem on pretty much all game store fronts. Aside from manually curating games, I say just don't allow shovelware on any store. But that's easier said than done and some cheap games are by heartfelt developers making their first game. 🤷♂️
They should just do what they were doing during the PS3/PSP. Just show the games that had new DLC added on to them. It was cleaner and organized better than what we have now. And it’s definitely better than having individual dlc of the same game taking up partial, half, or even the whole screen.
@LIMA better yet, let me ignore a developer rather than a single title 😆
@Skyfall I'm not sure "AI" is what's needed here.
I feel just a better algorithm for sorting; for example the algorithm could take in to account length of gameplay, etc.
Having "AI" involved could write easily go wrong as if a load of people do buy these shovelware games, then the AI might think that they should be at the top, and then as a developer, you would have to keep tweaking the ML process - which ultimately means it'll just become someone's curated list, rather than an AI made list.
@Beerheadgamer82 Triple AAA, so like AAAAAAAAA?
The "minis" category is the best idea I read so far. It could work.
Sony should snag up promising Indies for day one psplus extra releases. They can have it up for two to four months and then take it out of the library again. That way the Studio gets some exposure and a foreseeable income and we have Sony doing some much needed curation.
Damn, the Wii is gonna get jealous of how much shovelware the PSs are getting lol
It's too late for Sony to save the sanctity of trophies! They don't have to ban shovel ware games outright, just not allow them to have platinums, but clearly they stopped caring at some point and are happy to see their awards system trashed. They may make a few bucks here and there, but true trophy hunters are getting disillusioned and giving up altogether, losing money and fans in the long run, bad strat
I would much rather have a curated store, where the store owner stands behind the quality of the products they sell … you know, like every other store
Sony should be embarrassed even allowing some of these games on their store.
@Danloaded "Is there a particular reason why we have had this influx of rubbish on the ps store?"
Any chance it's because the "PlayStation Stars" loyalty program that's supposedly spinning up soon, and will offer some sort of rewards for playing games (and, presumably, for getting trophies)?
PSN store updates are likely—in part—due to the PushSquare article and the user comments. It’s proof positive that Sony employees are listening.
Now lets make a push for additional ways to sort the purchased and PS+ games in our library. I want to sort/filter by single-player games, couch co-op games, online co-op games, and online-only games. I want to sort/filter by game genre. I want to sort/filter by age restriction. I want to sort/filter by game size. I want to sort/filter by developer, I want to sort by VR/non VR, and I want a way to filter down to which games are can use a keyboard.
What we need is a stronger search filter, but it's a start at least.
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