Highlights
- Sony purged 1,194 shovelware games from publisher ThiGames off the PlayStation Store.
- The ban targets "asset flips" and low-effort platinum trophy bait.
- Players praised this quality control move for improving marketplace curation.
In a massive move to clean up its digital storefront, Sony has executed one of the largest single content removals of the platform, quietly deleting 1,194 games from the PlayStation Store. The purge targets the entire library of publisher ThiGames (also known as ThiGamesDE), a company infamous for flooding the market with low-effort "shovelware." The removal was first identified on Jan 14, 2026, by streamer and trophy hunter Rob Thanatos, who noted that every single title from the publisher had vanished. This appears to be a direct strike against "asset flips" that have long cluttered the marketplace.
Before this sudden crackdown, ThiGamesDE held the questionable distinction of being the fourth-largest publisher on the PlayStation Network by volume. Their business model relied almost entirely on what the community calls "platinum trophy bait." The publisher churned out hundreds of repetitive titles, most notably, The Jumping series, which included variations like The Jumping Taco and The Jumping Pizza, and the Quiz Thiz collection.
These games were generally sold for under a dollar and allowed players to unlock a prestigious Platinum trophy in minutes with little to no actual gameplay. By flooding the "New Releases" and "Sales" charts, these copy-paste titles often pushed genuine games out of view, burying projects that developers had spent years creating.
The Scale of the Shovelware Problem on the PlayStation Store
To understand the sheer scale of the content removed, one has to look at the numbers compared to other publishers. ThiGamesDE’s 1,194 titles placed them just behind other high-volume publishers like eastasiasoft, which holds 2,018 games, and Ratalaika Games, which has 1,279. Webnetic follows closely with 1,222 titles. In stark contrast, Sony Interactive Entertainment itself only has the 11th most games published on its own platform. The removal of ThiGamesDE significantly alters the landscape of the store, effectively wiping out a massive chunk of the low-quality volume that has frustrated users for years.
While Sony has not released an official statement regarding the specific ban of ThiGames, the move may be linked to broader industry trends regarding player safety and platform quality. Sony recently entered into a partnership with Microsoft and Nintendo to pursue greater player safety guidelines, as reported by Gamerant.
This follows a 2025 investigation by IGN that highlighted how certification loopholes allowed shovelware to overwhelm store algorithms. Unlike the removal of Concord, which was pulled due to server shutdowns, or other titles removed for licensing expirations, this appears to be a deliberate quality control decision.
The reaction from the PlayStation community has been overwhelmingly positive, with social media and Reddit users calling the move "long overdue." Many players have noted that browsing the store will be easier and less congested without the hundreds of Quiz Thiz clones clogging the feed.
For players who previously purchased these titles to pad their trophy counts, it’s currently unclear if this crackdown will eventually impact the validity of the Platinum Trophies earned prior to the removal. As Sony cleans house, many fans are now hoping Nintendo will follow suit and purge similar shovelware from the eShop.
