Shovelware, billiga skräpspel som lockar med enkla platinumtroféer/gamerscore, har blivit ett jätteproblem för nästan alla onlinebutiker på senare tid. Vare sig man tittar på Steam, Nintendo Switchs onlinebutik eller Microsofts och Sonys dito, så kan man se spel som Jumping Banana, Jumping Apple, Jumping Pear och så vidare. De gör det ibland stört omöjligt att navigera fram till faktiskt meningsfulla titlar, och nu ämnar Sony röja upp ordentligt på sina digitala hyllor.
Sony har skickat ut ett dokument med krav till samtliga utvecklare som figurerar på deras onlinebutik. Det säger att utvecklarna kan få reprimander om:
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.
Where possible, partners should consider aggregating small, similar content experiences into a single product, using in-game commerce to expand or extend the experience.
As an example, supplying different trophies for each product is not enough to differentiate content."
Bryter utvecklarna mot dessa krav riskerar de:
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.
Rätt ordentliga straff alltså. Kan vi hoppas att detta får effekt, och sedan implementeras i samtliga digitala spelbutiker, måntro?
Sony rycker ut med lagens långa... dokument?
Tack dexdotexe.