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PlayStation Time-limited game trials now a requirement for PlayStation games priced $34 or higher

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Read from the gamedeveloper:

Sony has begun communicating with developers about its plans for timed game trials for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers. According to sources speaking to Game Developer, developers working on games that have a wholesale cost of $34 or higher (€33 in Europe, ￥4000 in Japan) are now required to create time-limited game trials of their games. (Update: This number was previously referred to as the retail pricing, it has been updated to reflect that it refers to wholesale pricing.)

These trial versions must be at least two hours long.

Games that cost lower than those amounts are not required to create limited-time trials, according to the new policy. The plan follows Sony's announcement for expanded subscription options for PlayStation Plus.

Many developers were informed about the new policy via an update to Sony's developer portal. Our sources indicated they had not received any other communication about this change.

The good news is, these requirements are not retroactive and do not apply to upcoming PlayStation VR titles. The less-great news is that if you're a developer planning to release on the PlayStation store in the future, you now need to budget time and resources to create these new timed trials.

There is some flexibility as part of Sony's policy. Developers have up until three months after their games launch on the PlayStation Store to release their timed trial. Trials are also only required to be available to PlayStation Plus Premium users for at least 12 months.


Sony is also open to releasing custom game demos instead of time-limited game trials, but these will only be approved on a case-by-case basis. Developers are also still free to publish free weekends, game trials, or custom demos that can be accessed by all PlayStation owners.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
That... could be a bad turn off for the game makers, means more programming and game development time.
Click to expand...
Isn't it essentially just giving access to the game and letting players do what they want for 2 hours? That's how the EA early access trials always work.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
That... could be a bad turn off for the game makers, means more programming and game development time.
Click to expand...

It could be good thing to get players feedback on the game for dev to make it better before release like what's happening with Baldur's Gate III on PC now. The game got better and better because of players feedback.
 
It is nice that more expensive $34 or higher games require a trial, so people can try the game for 2 hours before they decide to buy.
 
Ash said:
Isn't it essentially just giving access to the game and letting players do what they want for 2 hours? That's how the EA early access trials always work.
Click to expand...

Still got to program that in, taking away from working on the actual game. Plus its a limit to a full game and people have proven to break that to get full game access.
 
I think PlayStation handles it though. That would be based on how EA Access trials work of course and there's no way to bypass the timers. It's not like you can create new accounts either since it's for the top tier.
 
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