One of the new perks that PlayStation is introducing with its upcoming expanded PlayStation Plus service is timed game trials.
While Sony hasn’t yet confirmed any of the titles that will offer these, a new report provides some insight into the types of games that will be included.
Citing developer sources, GameDeveloper reports that PlayStation is requiring games that have a wholesale cost of $34 USD (about $43.61 CAD) or more to offer a time-limited trial. These must be at least two hours long, although games that are under $34 USD will be exempt from this policy.
These requirements are also said to not be retroactive or applicable to upcoming PlayStation VR titles. Instead, developers are starting to be notified of this now and will have up until three months after their games launch to implement a trial. These must remain available to PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers (starting at $21.99 CAD/month) for at least 12 months.
PlayStation is also allowing developers to create custom trials instead of time-limited ones, although these will need to be approved on a case-by-case basis.
On the one hand, game trials are, in theory, an option for consumers to play a game without spending as much as $80 or $90. That said, game developers will need to allocate time and resources to create a polished demo, which can be tricky.
The new PlayStation Plus is set to launch on June 13th in Canada and the U.S.
Source: GameDeveloper
