The battle against shovelware, spam games and AI slop is seemingly never ending, with new “developers” and “publishers” sprouting up left and right, even after the major hardware manufacturers (Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft) have all taken significant steps to try and limit the influx of low-effort games, including outright delistings.
For now, Sony appears to be the most aggressive in its bid to clean up its PlayStation Store ecosystem, as after a recent sweep that targeted a large publisher, there appears to have been one more significant sweep that has ousted several more like it.
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As first spotted by Delisted Games, a website dedicated to covering titles that are pulled from digital storefronts, titles from GOGAME Console Publisher, VRCFORGE Studios, and Welding Byte (previously operating as RandomSpin Games) have all reportedly been removed from PSN.
Among the titles that came from these so-called publishers are the likes of Jesus Simulator and Card Shop Game Store, a rip-off of the one-time Steam exclusive TCG Card Shop Simulator.
Indeed, a cursory search for either of those titles leads to an error page on the PlayStation Store website, indicating that the titles have indeed been removed.
With respect to GOGAME and VRCFORGE, the two “studios” had still yet to be released titles, per PSN Profiles forums, that were seemingly set for a debut prior to their shutdown. Searching for those titles leads to that same error page.
Even With Moves By PlayStation, These “Studios” Still Have Nintendo And Microsoft
As great as it is to see at least one storefront removed from these titles, the reality is that the developers have two more storefronts in the Nintendo eShop and Microsoft Xbox Store, plus a third in Steam, where they can continue to release them.
In the case of Nostra Games, a Cyprus-based studio responsible for nearly 700 titles that was part of a recent delisting wave, they issued a statement outlining plans to do exactly that.
“Unfortunately, PS Store has removed our games, and we’re unable to provide an exact reason because it wasn’t shared with us either,” the statement from Nostra Games read in part. “For now, we are planning to continue releasing on Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and Steam. This was just as unexpected for us as it was for you, as we had planned to continue releasing games in the coming years, and you’ve already seen some of them, but unfortunately, this is how things turned out.”
Like we said up top, it’s really just a game of whack-a-mole, and until some more stringent guidelines are instituted, taking down one studio or a handful is really just the tip of the iceberg.
For example, even if Card Shop Game Store no longer exists, there’s another title waiting to be released in the form of TCG Card Shop Simulator Manager, another AI rip-off of a real thing. Such is the way things have gone.
- Brand
-
Sony
- Original Release Date
-
November 12, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$499, €499, £449, ¥49,980 (Base) // $399, €399, £359, ¥39,980 (Digital),
- Operating System
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Orbis OS
- Processor
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Custom 8-core AMD Zen 2
- Resolution
-
720p – 8K
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