As part of its evolution for its PS Plus, Sony has reportedly begun to ask developers to provide timed game trials for the Premium tier of the subscription service.
Sources speaking to Game Developer claim that developers will be required to create time-limited game trials of their games if they cost more than $34, and that these trials must be at least two hours long. Games that fall under that price won’t be required to provide a playable trial, and the policy won’t retroactively apply to older games or PlayStation VR titles.
The news, which was allegedly uploaded to Sony’s developer portal, also added that the company will be flexible with this new requirement as developers have up to three months after their games launch on the PlayStation Store to release a timed trial. Additionally, these trials need to be available to PlayStation Plus Premium users for at least 12 months.
These new slices of gameplay aren’t meant to replace demos either, as developers will still reportedly be free to release that content and free weekend sessions of their games for all PlayStation users. Few games retail for $34 at launch and this new rule from Sony will likely impact AA games and above, and titles such as Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Evil Dead: The Game, and Sniper Elite 5 are examples of the type of gaming scope that will be impacted.
The nearest comparison to this idea of video game trials would be Steam’s system, which allows for full refunds on games if they have been played for less than two hours or owned for under two weeks. The new PS Plus subscription service launches in June, and includes three separate tiers: PlayStation Plus, PlayStation Plus Extra, and PlayStation Plus Premium.
You can read more about each one in our PS Plus guide, as well as GameSpot’s analysis on why the overhauled subscription is still underwhelming in comparison to Xbox Game Pass.
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