Sony Interactive Entertainment has reportedly issued a new policy that makes it mandatory for a certain group of developers to create timed trials for their games on the PlayStation Store.
According to a report by Game Developer earlier today, any game with “a wholesale cost of $34 or higher” is required to have a timed trial that must be at least a couple of hours long. The games that fall under the price bar are exempt unless their developers personally want to push a timed trial.
Sony has already started informing developers about its new policy, which also states that developers are not required to release their games and timed trials on the same day. They will have three months after the release of a game on the PlayStation Store to roll out its accompanying timed trial.
The new policy comes ahead of the launch of the all-new multi-tiered PlayStation Plus which will offer timed trials to its Premium subscribers. In that vein, a timed trial for a game is reportedly going to be available for only the first year of release.
Sony is obviously looking to populate its subscription plans for PlayStation Plus but noted in the report, smaller or indie developers could have concerns about having to allocate more resources to creating timed trials. For larger, triple-a developers though, creating timed trials will not be an issue.
PlayStation Plus Premium will also offer an exclusive catalog of classics dating back to the original PlayStation and even PlayStation Portable. These will be available to download or stream, the latter option being available in only the regions that support PlayStation Now.
There will furthermore be another catalog of downloadable games but which will include modern-day first-party and third-party games from PlayStation 4 and 5. The launch lineup includes Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and more.
The only thing missing from the Premium tier is the ability to receive day one releases like Xbox Game Pass, something which Sony is not pushing to maintain the quality of PlayStation Studios.
PlayStation Plus Premium will cost $17.99 monthly, $49.99 quarterly, and $119.99 yearly when the new service goes live in June 2022 on a region-by-region basis.
