Sony removes spam games following devs report on PlayStation “e-slop”

Sony has removed potentially hundreds of spam PlayStation games in its store following reports from developers on the increasing amount of “e-slop.”

Developers have spoken out about the PlayStation store and how it’s difficult to navigate compared to Xbox and other platforms due to the vast number of spam games.

An article from IGN featured comments from developers who said that something weird is happening on the PlayStation and Nintendo e-shops. A bunch of games that people have referred to as “slop” have been cropping up all over.

Developers who spoke to IGN said that it’s relatively easy for people to release spam games that disrupt the PlayStation ecosystem and e-shop experience.

This makes it difficult for users to find the titles they want to play, as these games get lost in the spam game detritus.

If you’re eager to spot a spam title, you need to look for the most cheap-looking, quickly whipped-up games, usually simulators of some sort.

Some spam games include titles like “Doctor Simulator,” “Kebab Chefs Restaurant Tycoon,” SchoolBoy Simulator,” and “Ambulance Simulator.”

More games like “Supermarket Simulator Pro,” “Backrooms Brotherhood,” and “Bodycam Shooter” were all created by the profile RandomSpin Games. This profile, as True Trophies reports, is one for “chucking out low-effort titles.”

All of the games use “recycled assets,” AI imagery, and may appear like they’re copying popular titles.

According to True Trophies, these games are reportedly so low-effort that they were being churned out monthly.

Which, if you know anything about video game development, is an extremely short amount of time.

Since Sony decided to clean up its act, the developer has had almost all of its titles removed from the PlayStation store.

Over on the PSNProfiles forum, users are happy that “more slop is being removed from the store.”

Since the release of IGN’s article, Sony has coincidentally cleaned up the PlayStation store, which True Trophies suggested is in response to developers' pleas.

When I headed over to Sony’s online PlayStation store, nothing really stood out to me. It was easy to navigate, and the highly anticipated and popular titles were at the forefront – not a simulator game in sight.

I also looked at the store on the PS5, which also looked clean and spam-free.

Users online have speculated that the PlayStation store clean-up may have happened at the same time as a recent outage that sent PS users into a frenzy.