Sony has taken down hundreds of "shovelware" games from its digital store, all of which were developed by a single company

Recent reports indicate that Sony has taken down numerous titles from the developer ThiGames on its PlayStation Store.

According to PushSquare, the majority of links to games on ThiGames' official site appear inactive, reflecting their removal from Sony's platform.

The affected titles, often described as "shovelware" for their rapid production and simple gameplay, have been criticized for cluttering the platform. Some players, however, utilized these games to quickly increase their trophy collection. Eurogamer cited The Jumping Taco: Turbo as an example, demonstrating numerous trophies achieved after just 30 seconds of gameplay.

Before the removal, ThiGames ranked as the fourth most prolific publisher on the PlayStation 4 and 5 platforms, following Eastasiasoft, Ratalaika Games, and Webnetic. Trophy enthusiast Rob Thanatos shared these rankings. Nonetheless, Simon Carless of GameDiscoverCo suggests that some reports may have exaggerated the quantity by counting distinct regional versions, estimating about 150 games in reality. Remarkably, ThiGames has reportedly generated nearly $10 million.

"I won't speculate on Sony's motives," Carless mentioned on LinkedIn, emphasizing that counting multiple regional versions might have inflated the numbers. "Our estimate is 153 games, with lifetime earnings nearly reaching $10 million."

So far, neither ThiGames nor Sony has released any official statements concerning these developments.

Update: The post by GameDiscoverCo has been modified to confirm eight regional versions per game, revising the earnings to reflect total lifetime revenue of $10 million, rather than an annual figure.