Sony Interactive Entertainment continues to tighten the rules for publishing games on the PlayStation Store, and the latest victim of this policy has become the publisher Afil Games.
The company has confirmed that all 933 of its titles will soon be removed from the PlayStation Store, while it has also been prohibited from publishing new games on Sony's platform.
In an official statement, Afil Games states that Sony has introduced significantly stricter criteria for publishing games since the beginning of the year and that their business model is no longer in line with the new rules. As a result, the partnership between the two companies has ended, and the existing catalog will be removed from the digital store in the upcoming period. Although Afil Games is leaving the PlayStation ecosystem, the company emphasizes that it will continue to publish games for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Microsoft Store, and Nintendo consoles and claims to be already working on several new projects.
Sony's move is part of a broader action against so-called shovelware - games of very low production value that are often created solely to allow players to quickly and easily earn Platinum trophies. In recent months, Sony has already removed thousands of similar titles from publishers like ThiGames and Webnetic, and has permanently banned many from publishing new games.
Afil Games became particularly well-known among Xbox players last year after releasing as many as 191 games in one year. It was later revealed that many puzzle titles used nearly identical levels and content, which led the publisher to publicly apologize. This year, the pace has not slowed down either. During the first half of 2026, Afil Games has already released over 100 new games.
Although the shovelware problem is often mentioned on PlayStation, many believe that the situation on the Microsoft Store is equally concerning. Numerous publishers are releasing nearly identical games in multiple versions for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows, flooding the list of new releases and making it harder for higher-quality titles to gain visibility.
This is one of the few moves where Sony deserves praise. Digital stores should promote quality games, not be overwhelmed by dozens of nearly identical titles whose only purpose is to enable quick trophy collection. On the other hand, the Games to wishlist section on the PlayStation Store now finally looks immeasurably clearer, allowing quality small games to stand out much more easily.
