2-hour demos imposed on developers?

If the players know what to expect with the new PlayStation Plus – which will be launched in France on June 22 – we suspect that it is also agitated on the side of the developers, in particular because the Premium version of the service, in addition to give access to a catalog of more than 700 games released on the various PlayStation consoles, will make it possible to benefit from time-limited demos. Exactly, if we are to believe the indiscretions of Game Developer, Sony Interactive Entertainment reportedly intends to impose trial versions of at least two hours on studios whose games will cost more than €33 on the PlayStation Store. On the other hand, securities with a lower selling price will not be subject to this rule.

Rigid at first glance, this new policy of the Japanese manufacturer vis-à-vis the studios is however intended to be flexible. Indeed, they will not be obliged to offer said demo as soon as the game is launched; they will have three months to do so. In addition, this preview must be available on PlayStation Plus Premium for a minimum of one year. Sony Interactive Entertainment would not be against the idea of ​​developers offering suitable demos instead of these two-hour trial versions – provided they are validated beforehand – and that free weekends and Classic demos continue to be offered to all PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Important detail: this instruction from Sony Interactive Entertainment would not be retroactive, and above all, would in no way concern productions specific to PlayStation VR. If all this were to be confirmed, it will be interesting to see how modest studios will adapt to this new constraint. Because we must not delude ourselves: creating a demo requires resources, especially for a game that we complete in a few hours. Conversely, we imagine that the heavyweights of the industry will have less difficulty in complying with the requirements of Sony Interactive Entertainment.