Sony Is Reportedly Requiring Timed Trials for Many Upcoming PlayStation Games
As reported by Game Developer, Sony has reached out recently to PlayStation game developers with information about a new program that will bring timed game trials to PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers when it launches in most places in June. In the notice, Sony laid out a plan that detailed how game trials will work for upcoming releases.
Any game with a $34 wholesale price (not retail) will support this feature and have to let subscribers play for at least two hours before making a purchasing decision. Games under the $34 wholesale mark would not be required to support this feature, and the mandate isn’t retroactive for titles already on the PlayStation Store nor does it apply to PlayStation VR games.
The $34 wholesale price would mean that trials would be applicable to games that would sell a little above that, which means that this mainly applies to software at or just below the full $59.99 or $69.99 retail price. For example, wouldn’t have required a demo since it retails at $39.99, but , a $59.99 title, would have.
Sony stated in its documentation that it is open to custom demos rather than full game trials, although it will have to approve such releases on a case-by-case basis. Publishers and developers are also still free to set up other trial periods such as free weekends in order to promote their releases to everyone on the platform. There is some leeway with trials, too, as developers will have three months after launch to prepare one. Trials also only have to be up for at least 12 months. However, there is still some concern with smaller teams that don’t quite have the size or budget to work on this extra feature.
The news comes as part of the rollout of the expanded PlayStation Plus program, a subscription
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