Sony is reportedly enforcing "stricter guidelines" against so-called "shovelware" PlayStation games

Sony is seemingly enforcing "stricter guidelines" by cutting ties with alleged "shovelware" publishers like the Brazilian-based Afil Games.

In a message posted to social media and spotted by Push Square, Afil revealed that as a consequence of PlayStation "implementing stricter guidelines for publishing games on its platform [...] PlayStation has decided not to continue its partnership with Afil Games for future releases on its platform."

At the time of writing, Afil's existing games - such as Chico's Delivery and Damways - remain available to buy on the US PlayStation Store.

Afil thanked players for their support on PlayStation and reminded them that it "remained committed to bringing new experiences to our players" on Xbox consoles and Nintendo Switch.

Sony removed hundreds of games from its PlayStation Store back in January, including hundreds published by ThiGames. The games - considered by some as "shovelware" as they're churned out quickly, flood the store, and typically offer simplistic or shallow experiences - are often considered a nuisance, but some players use them to beef up their trophy count.

Up until that wipe, only three developers had more games listed on the PS4 and PS5 stores than ThiGames: Eastasiasoft, Ratalaika Games, and Webnetic.