is getting ready for the in . Prior to introducing new levels, the company is reportedly making more demands on certain developers. According to asks studios working on games priced at least $34 to create timed trials lasting at least two hours.
The report suggests that Sony has notified studios of the directive through the developer portal and without prior warning. They can reportedly release their timed trial (which should be available for at least a year) up to three months after their game hits the PlayStation Store. The policy reportedly does not apply to previously released games, titles selling for less than $34, or games.
The top tier of the revamped subscription service, PS Plus Premium, offers access to time-limited game trials. Sony such trials on PS5 in October. It granted players access to: Death Stranding: Directors Cut six o’clock and Sackboy: a great adventure for five hours at no extra cost.
While many people appreciate game demos and can try out a title before paying for it, this move requires studios to spend valuable time and resources creating the timed proofs. That will definitely put more pressure on smaller developers.
It’s not clear why Sony chose a $34 threshold for this policy, but it’s likely that developers selling games at a higher price are more likely to be larger studios with more resources. cafe-madrid has contacted Sony Interactive Entertainment for comment.
Sony will be aware that it has to ensure that PS Plus Premium offers users value for money. That tier costs $18 per month, $50 per quarter, or $120 per year (the lowest tier is the same as the current version of PS Plus and will not have a price increase).
The new PS Plus service differs from Xbox Game Pass in that none of the tiers will offer first-party games on their release day. Offering trial versions of many new and recent games on top of a library of hundreds of games from every generation of PlayStation can make up for that, at least to some extent.
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