Sacred Symbols+, Episode 219 | The PlayStation Shovelware Conspiracy (Video)

Could I have please the names of those companies? I am not able to spell them right and I am Slovak.

Robert Olbert

Right. We need customization tools.

Colin Moriarty

Colin is 100% correct that shovelware exists on Steam but the user tools push all the crap down and only the good stuff rises to the top so it's not a problem on Steam. The PSN store on the other hand is a complete dumpster fire and I have no idea what Sony is thinking, it's completely absurd.

Hecktix

It's weird that they wouldn't let us discover that... on their own platforms!

Colin Moriarty

Really great episode, learned a lot and a lot to think about from this. I think the console makers are just praying that we never figure out just how good pc gamers have relative to us in so many ways. example - on steam u can customize the store for yourself. on pc you dont pay fees to play online. pc sales are always better. pc games run better, look better, control better etc. Once gamers start to figure out what its like "over there", maybe the console makers will have to adapt a little.

Guybrush Threepwood

I think this is even more pronounced with Yen, which is where they are truly eating it in comparison to the USD.

Colin Moriarty

I don't think it's that, no. Not appreciably, anyway.

Colin Moriarty

Regarding the price increases. Back when Sterling was 2x the Dollar console prices were the same in the UK as the US. Meaning if it was $400 it would be £400 (so real terms $800). Same was true when Sterling was 1.5x or 1.3x the dollar. Sony etc are eating more at the moment as the exchange rates don't favour them as much these days and that's another reason why they're increasing outside the US. The current exchange rate, £1 buys $1.16. The lowest its been for a while. Sony are losing a lot of money relatively speaking even though in real terms we're already paying more per console.

Greg Dawson

I just listened to this today and a thought came across my mind. Do you think there is a niche market for these games due to Playstation gift card balances? I'm wondering if kids with small balances (ie less than 2 or 3 dollars) in their accounts are buying whatever they can with the small amounts of money they can't use to buy a "regular priced" game or in game purchases. Or are they "porting" games from the infinite piles of mobile games and seeing what sticks? Just a thought. Thanks for the great content, Colin

ben in the can

Here ya go! https://www.reddit.com/r/playstation/comments/w8uc3q/psn_shovelware_is_getting_out_of_control_make_it/ihrlpes?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3

SpectreBull

=)

Colin Moriarty

I don't off-hand, sorry.

Colin Moriarty

It's bad. I'm really, really happy I never bit with any of these games.

Colin Moriarty

Holy moly.

Colin Moriarty

It's all trash.

Colin Moriarty

It just seems so intentional. And that's really a shame.

Colin Moriarty

Shady stuff.

Colin Moriarty

there is a ratalaika easy platinum game titled “football game” its point and click maybe around a 2 hour game. not great quality, but way more than hitting x. but youre right, there maybe be a “jumping football game” that i dont know about.

Josh Ashley

Pretty sure he was referring to Football by Breakthrough Gaming, the subject of the podcast, not Madden or something.

my man beat up football game and defended my name is mayo… idk about this one

Josh Ashley

I just started trophy hunting and will absolutely never play one of these titles.

Lil' Jazzy

Anyone have the link to the Reddit thread?

Apart from making the PSN shopfront a dogs breakfast, it truly has devalued the trophy system. I can’t understand the motivation to buy these games. The irony is these titles are primarily selling to people concerned with the value of their public profile but any trophies from these titles renders the purchasers entire account worthless to anyone viewing. I could be wrong and there is immense self satisfaction from holding X whilst a taco or a piece of sushi jumps.

Robert F

Speaking from my own experience, I moved countries a few years ago and made a new psn account in that country to be able to use with my new local debit card. I couldn't change the associated country of my old account, and obviously couldn't transfer my old platinum trophies either, so I bought a matching number of cheap, quick platinum games to "transfer" those platinums to my new account.

Can’t wait to watch this, everyone on PS5 has notice the insane amount of $2 games recently. When new releases are over whelmed with trash games (most of which are just repeats skinned differently) it’s a problem.

Phishoto

Loved the discussion! Am I remembering right that Sony poached someone from Apple Arcade a while back? Colin I think you’re spot on. Not even Sony is this dumb, this has to be engineered, there are too many similarities with iOS.

Tick Dickler

Finally got around to listening to the whole episode. Really great stuff here man. The part where he mentioned some of these developers having Xbox and Nintendo listed as partners sounded exactly like blue box game studios. Their website had a link that would take you to an investor page that said Xbox PlayStation and nvidia were partners. You can only access it through the waybackmachine now. Just mad sketchy.

Kenneth Oms