PlayStation introduces free game trials for first-party titles, with a catch

NME

Sony has introduced game trials, where select first-party titles are available for a free trial period, but the way the trials work requires a word of warning.

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PS5 titles are what the offer focuses on as explained in a PlayStation email sent out yesterday (October 1). For now, Death Stranding: Director’s Cut and Sackboy: A Big Adventure are the only titles that are part of the game trials, with them playable until October 28.

The problem is that there’s a pretty big catch for how these game trials actually work. Players have a limited time from when they select “download trial” on the PlayStation store to actually play these games. That means the download time is calculated as part of the game trial itself.

Game trials are also limited to PS5 games, so the PS4 version of Sackboy: A Big Adventure is off the table.

Death Stranding: Director’s Cut is available for six hours from the download start time, whilst Sackboy: A Big Adventure is available for five. On paper, this is a good deal, but having to free the five or six hours, and needing a solid internet connection to get the download finished as quick as possible, will make it harder on some PS5 owners.

The email states that “once the time is up you’ll need to purchase the full-price game if you want to keep playing,” but progress and trophies will carry over if and when you purchase the game you’ve tried.

There’s currently no information on what other games will be on offer, but the wording states that the “most-popular games from PlayStation Studios” will be coming up, so expect some pretty big titles.

Elsewhere, Capcom has said it wants to make PC account for 50 per cent of its output by 2022 or 2023 at the latest.

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