Sony appears to be implementing “stricter” rules for releasing games on the PlayStation Store in an effort to cut down on the amount of shovelware – low effort games – that are appearing there.
Afil Games is a publisher affected by this, and it announced on social media that its games are being removed from the PlayStation Store and that its future output will not arrive there either.
“We would like to share an important update regarding our releases for the PlayStation platform,” Afil Games’ statement on X began (via Push Square). “As many of you may already know, since the beginning of this year PlayStation has been implementing stricter guidelines for publishing games on its platform. As a result of these new guidelines and their incompatibility with our business model, PlayStation has decided not to continue its partnership with Afil Games for future releases on the platform.”
Afil Games is the Brazilian publisher and developer of games such as Chico’s Delivery, Chippy’s Stash, and Cat Pipes – all legit bangers I’m sure. It has published dozens of casual games, many of which exist to pad-out players’ Trophy counts. Many publishers offer Trophy hunters easy ways to earn the digital silverware in their games, which are often incredibly simplistic and easy to beat as a result.
But Sony has demonstrably gotten more serious about shoveling the shovelware away. This year alone, Sony targeted several offending publishers, removing thousands of their games across multiple waves of removals. This effort to remove “slop” games, as they’re commonly known, seemed to begin last year.
“We would like to sincerely thank all PlayStation players who have supported us throughout this journey,” Afil wrote. “Your enthusiasm and trust have played a significant role in our growth. We remain committed to bringing new experiences to our players through Xbox One, Xbox Series, Microsoft Store, and Nintendo Switch.”
We’ve reached out to Sony interactive Entertainment for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
