Combined at Sony PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now in June, the new most expensive tier will be $18 per month and include time-limited trials. But most games currently don’t have such demos. To fix this in the future, game developer reports now Sony will require all developers of games with a wholesale price above $34 to also release free demos for subscribers to try.
So far, the new policy appears to have only been communicated through Sony’s developer portal, rather than as an official announcement to third-party partners. my box‘s own sources have confirmed this. Playtests would need to be two hours long, published within the first three months of the game’s release, and available for at least a year. Developers can still suggest alternative demo formats on a case-by-case basis, and the new rule would not apply to VR games.
Sony did not respond to a request for comment.
These time-limited playtests are one of the main advantages for Sony’s new PlayStation Plus Premium tier Launching June 13 in the US It would mean subscribers could play the first two hours of games like Leave, Gotham Knightsand the new Saints Row free of charge. Other upcoming benefits include access to a collection of classic PS1, PS2 and PSP games, as well as cloud streaming. Together, Sony hopes this is enough to convince gamers to pay up to $18 a month.
But playtesting could end up hurting some developers’ bottom line. They can have a huge impact on game sales, as Steam developers, who are subject to the Valve storefront’s two-hour return policy, can attest. And it doesn’t appear that Sony is offering any additional compensation to developers for providing the new benefit.
While there are many studios whose games fall below the $34 wholesale cost threshold, most blockbusters would be subject to the new mandate and almost create some sort of new Mini Game Pass-lite exclusively for PlayStation. That is, unless major publishers like Square Enix and others are able to negotiate some sort of carve-out, or Sony backs out of the mandate.
