Timed game trials are now a requirement for some PlayStation developers
Sony is requiring some developers to create timed trials for their games to include in its PlayStation Plus Premium plans.
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[Game Developer] Timed game trials are now a requirement for some PlayStation developers [Up: No extra work for devs, done by Sony store team]
- Thread starter --R
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Neat. I wouldn't have expected this but it makes sense to ensures that customers actually get to use a feature they're paying for.
Charge less than $34 for it.
Why does this fall on the developer?
A.) They shouldn't be forced to do this at all.
B.) Why wouldn't they just have it so that a user would download the entirety of the game, and then lock the user out of it after two hours of launch. That seems the easiest way to do it, and would fall on Sony to figure out the licensing.
C.) Games that are short should be excluded regardless, people could just abuse the trial period to blow through a game and never buy
A.) They shouldn't be forced to do this at all.
B.) Why wouldn't they just have it so that a user would download the entirety of the game, and then lock the user out of it after two hours of launch. That seems the easiest way to do it, and would fall on Sony to figure out the licensing.
C.) Games that are short should be excluded regardless, people could just abuse the trial period to blow through a game and never buy
Dumb. Timed Trials are the least enticing aspect of a sub-service. It's not something I'd mandate on anyone.
Edit: My later posts in this thread have this clarified as it apparently not being as restrictive as first thought for devs.
Edit: My later posts in this thread have this clarified as it apparently not being as restrictive as first thought for devs.
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Haven't developers stated that it's kind of a pain to create downloadable demos? Like for HFW, you'd need to create a 2 hour long experience where it's not super spoiler heavy, you have to wall off parts of the open world, and then equip the player with a certain subset of weapons that helps samples the game well.
I'm not super crazy about this.
And maybe I'm making this up, but didn't developers find that game demos hurt game sales?
I'm not super crazy about this.
And maybe I'm making this up, but didn't developers find that game demos hurt game sales?
I mean if it's just a slice of the game it sounds like a pretty low-cost thing.
Wow, time trials for EVERY game priced over $34. I'm split, seems like a headache for devs but good for people who want to try a game before committing to the purchase?
Actually, they could achieve the same effect by implementing a proper PSN refund mechanism like steam does. This way devs wouldn't need to allocate extra resources to a dedicated trial and consumers wouldn't need to pay a premium subscription fee to try something before they buying it.
Actually, they could achieve the same effect by implementing a proper PSN refund mechanism like steam does. This way devs wouldn't need to allocate extra resources to a dedicated trial and consumers wouldn't need to pay a premium subscription fee to try something before they buying it.
I guess that's fair. Pretty excited for this, though probably won't get PS Premium Plus.
That's shit. It should be up to the devs and pubs, or Sony should incentivize it. Maybe bigger cut or something.
Seems shitty to require it rather than to pay some devs to provide them as a bonus. As the platform holder Sony should shoulder the burden of such a policy, not the individual developers and publishers. I can't imagine this could ever become standard.
This is great, I thought the trials were only going to be for first-party games. Two hours is a little short, though, imho.
Gotta wonder how much work this is on the developer side, rather than on Sony's storefront/authentication side. Like, it's not a demo it's just 2 hour access to the full game, right?
its mostly bullshit.
on pc steam has done demo fests and indies like it cause they see an increase in wishlists
Sony is the pub lol. They're mandating their developers to do it.
Edit: nvm misread
It's not a demo. It's giving people access to the game for 2 hours on a timer.
Wait. Sony, instead of offering a system level function for timed trials is forcing devs to create a custom version as a trial? I think its bad they force every AAA game to have a 2 hour trial but atleast that would have been a more cohesive strategy than just contractually forcing devs to do more work for one specific platform
Yeah it seems like Sony likes the idea of a 2 hour curated experience that effectively demonstrates the essence of a game rather than a game that has a slow 2 hour period starting period.
Or for like with TLOU2, they necessarily wouldn't want a game trial to feature the
Equivalent.. . with extra steps.
Basically, its not equivalent
its not. this seems like the devs have to create a separate trial version. if it was just a timer, Sony can implement that on a system level
I can't imagine there's a lot of publishers selling games above $34 that want to give out a trial.
Whilst there's a positive for the consumer in that it gives a try before buy option to PS+ subs it seems kind of aggressive to force it on publishers.
Sony definitely going for the stick rather than the carrot again with their platform policies.
Whilst there's a positive for the consumer in that it gives a try before buy option to PS+ subs it seems kind of aggressive to force it on publishers.
Sony definitely going for the stick rather than the carrot again with their platform policies.
Oh. Some people in this thread were also interpreting this as something different than just a 2 hour timed trial.
I presume it doesn't have to be a bespoke trial, and can just be the game with a time limit applied. In that case it shouldn't be that big a deal in terms of development, I presume. I also presume that developers get some sort of revenue share from Premium subs for this, based on trial plays or whatever.
For the user it's great. As a feature for Premium, 'trials' weren't that appealing unless it was going to be widespread.
For the user it's great. As a feature for Premium, 'trials' weren't that appealing unless it was going to be widespread.
I don't see how this is a negative for devs. They get to put their best foot forward for two hours and potentially get extra sales.
How much work is it to make your game playable for two hours? I think there should be opting out on some shorter games and maybe in those cases the devs would rather make a shorter specific demo instead which would be more work but I don't see how making Death Stranding or AAA game X playable for 2 hours is tons of work.
I see most AAA devs using the 3 month window doubt the trials would be there day one.
I see most AAA devs using the 3 month window doubt the trials would be there day one.
I hope it's that straightforward. I think developers should be able to put a level/progression limit too if they have shorter games.
I could see speed runners using trials for trophies if the trials allow trophies.
Im customer not developer, why should i care ?
Also it will be just 2h first hours of the game, i dont see any work need to be done to mąkę that possible.
It's QOL feature and should be there since forever.
I'm sure most devs will just release the first two hours of their games as the demo/trial, while some (like first-party) may want to create a slightly different version that better shows off the game.
