Sony recently unveiled their new upgraded tiered version of PlayStation Plus, and one of the more overlooked Premium tier features is the inclusion of “time-limited game trials.” Not a lot has been revealed about this particular bullet point, but according to a new report from Game Developer, it seems Sony is looking to push the feature hard.
Apparently, an update to Sony’s PlayStation development portal recently informed devs that any game that will be sold for $34 or more will now need to provide a time-limited trial for PS Plus Premium subscribers. These trials will need to last at least two hours, and be made available within three months of a game being published on the PlayStation Store. The trials then need to be made available for at least a full year. While it seems like most of these trials will be relatively-simple “try the game for X hours” deals, Sony is also open to custom-crafted demos, although those would have to be specially tested and approved. Of course, as with any inside report, take this with a grain of salt for now, but it all sounds fairly plausible.
If this is the real deal, it will be interesting to see developer reaction to this new rule. It’s unclear if these trials will be a relatively simple thing to implement, with Sony perhaps creating a system-wide framework for them, or if devs will have to take time out of their busy schedules to make them. The fact that this change was communicated through the PlayStation development portal does seem to indicate some work will be involved in making them. If so, will publishers and devs be compensated for having to make trials that push something that mainly benefits Sony (PS Plus Premium subscriptions)? While this probably won’t be a big deal for the Activisions and Ubisofts of the world, it could be a pain in the butt for smaller devs that are already stretched thin.
The new PS Plus launches in early May to late June, depending on where you live in the world. You can get the exact launch dates here.
