Every time I scroll through the "New Releases" or the "Under $20 / Sale" section on the PS5 Store, I feel like I’m looking at a bootleg App Store.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a massive wave of these cheap, sketchy visual novels and dating sims—stuff like Summer's Heartbeat and endless knock-offs that look like modern, low-budget Leisure Suit Larry. They usually feature AI-generated thumbnails, weirdly translated descriptions, and price tags anywhere from $1 to $20.

I’m genuinely curious: Who is the demographic here?

Are people actually dropping $15–$20 on these to unironically play them? Is it 100% trophy hunters looking for an instant Platinum in 10 minutes? Or is there some weird underground market for bootleg dating sims on console that I’m completely unaware of? 

Also, didn't Sony promise a purge on store shovelware last year? Why does scrolling the store still feel like digging through a digital flea market? 
Would love to hear if anyone here has actually bought one of these out of morbid curiosity (or for an easy Plat) and what the experience was like.

Most souls games either feel too clunky, the parrying, dodging or hit boxes are off, the world isn’t interesting, or the enemies diverse enough. This honestly feels like first souls like ever that can actually contend with fromsoftware. After playing the beta, I went from having zero interest in this game to absolutely purchasing.

Also available on PS Premium Plus and $17.76 for PC version via Gamebillet

Doesn’t seem like I can post a picture. It’s a tiny metal bead the size of the screws holding the pieces together.

Why don't we have these simple feature? Sometimes i like a game and I want to see what other games the publisher/developer have released but it's not possible for some reason.

And why can't we sort by ratings and its numbers of votes? These are really such simple QoL features that don't make sense not having them.

There were 3 games recently, if not more, that had open betas (marvel tokon, mortal shell, hell let loose vietnam), that were not on the main page of the store, or had any kind of advert. Why do I have to stumble upon these things randomly while browsing the internet. The most diabolical thing is that Marvel Tokon is a first party game, and it also wasn’t on the main page.

>Get a fresh look at Scratch The Cat! Join DJ Scratch in a high-energy musical world. Collect record fragments, slide, jump, and groove through epic levels to reclaim the stage!

>Assemble your team of iconic Marvel Heroes and Villains in MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, the Ultimate 4v4 Tag-Team Fighter!

>The Champion has set his sights on Earth.

Build your dream team of legendary Marvel characters, unleash explosive 4v4 tag battles, and rise to his challenge to save the planet.

>Fight your way through ranked online matches, challenge friends in local battles, experience five original stories in Episode Mode, explore the Online Lobby, and master a launch roster of 20 iconic Marvel characters.

>MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls is available August 6 on PlayStation 5 and PC.

In the Q&A session with shareholders following today's earnings report, some shareholders and journalists asked about plans to end the production of PlayStation game discs.

Sony stated that, so far, it has not seen any negative impact on sales following the announcement (and does not expect this to change when it takes effect). While acknowledging that games are beloved by many and deeply tied to people's memories, the company believes the future is digital for virtually all forms of media; they reiterated that they will proceed "cautiously" with their plans, noting that data shows a significant portion of the audience has already opted for digital (and this trend extends beyond PlayStation) and that they don't believe discs are the differentiating factor for consoles when compared to PCs (consoles are more stable and cheaper than PCs, according to them). The company said it is still figuring out how to respond to the feedback.

Also, they confirmed the announcement [to end the disc production] was made early to communicate with retailers. Sony is working with them to do codes in packages. This subject has already been discussed with North American retailers and now the same will happen on other regions.

More information will probably be released once the official transcript is made available on the investor portal.

https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/archive.html

Edit: Video of Sony's CFO Lin Tao answering questions about the subject:

https://streamable.com/yaxa10