If you are new to trophy hunting in video games, you may be confused by some vernacular used in the community. One word you might hear thrown around in these circles often is “shovelware.”
The term originated in the 90s to describe auxiliary software bundled in to fill any space on CDs not required by the actual product. This is not unlike older video games coming bundled with demos for completely different titles on the disk.
For the modern trophy hunter, what is shovelware, and why should you care about it?
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What Is Shovelware?
In today’s gaming landscape, shovelware refers to extremely low-effort games churned out for a quick profit. Often, they will be repackaged and resold several times with minimal changes to maximize earnings with the least amount of work.
If the title even attempts any kind of meaningful gameplay, it will be marred by obscene amounts of bugs and glitches that could have been caught with the slightest amount of testing. But again, these developers more than likely do not care about how well the product functions so long as it sells.
You can usually identify these games in the PlayStation store if they match the following conditions:
- 1-3 sentence description that includes anything along the lines of “enjoy the graphics” or “enjoy the music”
- The description is full of grammatical errors
- There are no (or very few) images or videos that showcase the game
- Included images show trophies being unlocked
- The game is on sale all the time and/or is 0-5 USD
If you’re willing to check the game on a trophy hunting website like PSN Profiles, you can more definitively classify it. If the following conditions are met, you can be almost 100% certain the game in question is shovelware.
- The average completion rate is extremely high (>90%)
- The average time to completion is extremely low (<1 hour)
- The game has versions for every region and console
- PS4 & PS5
- NA, AS, JP, EU (and more) regions
Platformers where you press X 1,000 times, glorified Flash games of yesteryear, quiz games and sliding puzzles with anime pictures are very common offenders that you should watch out for.
Why Some Trophy Hunters Abuse Shovelware
For trophy hunters, shovelware games can often be reduced to simply spending money to get trophies. The worst ones will give you a platinum trophy in less than ten minutes. Not only that, but since these titles generally have many different region and platform versions, you can stack tons of platinum trophies with very little effort by playing them all. In other words, you can get 10+ platinum trophies in just a couple of hours.
It should be obvious to anyone that the vast majority of these games are not worth anyone’s time or money. But if they are so low value, why do some trophy hunters play so many of these games?
To Climb Leaderboards
Some players may view trophy hunting similar to getting a high score in an old arcade game. These players want to make it to the top of the leaderboard on PSN Profiles, True Trophies, or any of the other big trophy hunting websites.
Sadly, if you want to stand a chance, you likely have to resort to shovelware games. On PSN Profiles, you have to have a crazy number of platinum trophies to make it anywhere meaningful on the leaderboards.
- The highest rated players have over 10,000 platinum trophies.
- Top 100 players have over 5,000 platinum trophies.
- Top 500 players have over 2,300 platinum trophies.
- Top 1,000 players have over 1,500 platinum trophies.
It is basically impossible to reach those numbers with only high quality titles on your list. If leaderboard position matters to a dedicated trophy hunter, they may find themselves reaching for shovelware games to boost their score.
They Want As Many Platinum Trophies As Possible
Some trophy hunters may not care at all about leaderboards, but instead simply want to see their numbers get as high as possible for their own personal satisfaction.
In a way, this is a lot like bodybuilders getting excited about reaching new lifting milestones. These avid athletes feel accomplished for deadlifting 500 pounds for the first time, just like these trophy hunters feel about reaching 500 platinum trophies.
They Want to Reach the Maximum PlayStation Level
In a similar vein, other players may care less about the actual trophy numbers, but instead strive for a very high PlayStation trophy level. These trophy hunters may prefer shovelware simply because these titles are generally worth more points because they have proportionally more gold trophies to any other type.
You have to reach at least level 999 to obtain the coveted platinum icon on your profile. This achievement generally requires around 1,000 platinum trophies to reach, meaning you will likely need to load up on shovelware. Otherwise, be prepared for years-long grinding.
Below is a more detailed breakdown of PlayStation trophy levels. You can also read more about it on the PlayStation blog.
Addiction
There is a fine line between reaching new trophy hunting heights for fun and accomplishment, and doing so because you feel a compulsion to do so.
If you feel compelled to play shovelware games even though you do not enjoy the process, you may have an addiction. Make sure you are doing what keeps you happy and healthy.
Why You Should Avoid Shovelware
Now that we’ve gotten the pro-shovelware rhetoric out of the way, let me try to convince you why you should go out of your way to avoid shovelware.
It Encourages An Unhealthy Approach to the Hobby
Learning about shovelware can often lead unaware players down a dangerous rabbit hole. Playing these titles can provide a quick dose of dopamine that may lead players to continue seeking out easy targets to keep the good feelings coming.
In moderation, this isn’t a big deal, but becoming obsessive can lead to unhealthy practices. Spending all of your gaming time playing low quality titles for no other reason than to boost your score is not the way to go. You should be getting platinum trophies for games you love to play or that will make you smile when you see it on your list.
It Dilutes Your Trophy List
Another problem with shovelware games is that they make your trophy mosaic look worse. This is especially true if you have many stacks of the same game, as this effectively draws even more eyes to it.
Instead of focusing on the great games or difficult trophy hunts, most people will primarily see these low value titles. There is also no easy way to hide these games, unfortunately.
It Can Affect Your Standing in the Community
Speaking of mosaics, sharing your profile with other trophy hunters may not go as well should you have tons of shovelware.
Although most forums are supportive, you are likely to receive more criticism or negative comments when sharing your accomplishments with others when you have shovelware on your list. This is especially true if you have a high number of platinum trophies.
Other trophy hunters may interpret you sharing your seemingly robust mosaic as undeserved bragging, as you are essentially inflating your numbers with “EZ” games. True or not, be prepared for these types of reactions should you choose to complete shovelware titles.
You Are Supporting Bad Development Practices
Most people would agree that what someone does in their own free time is no one else’s business. Any video game player is free to play whatever game they like, shovelware or not.
However, you should know that developers of such games are preying on your desire to obtain more trophies. By purchasing these titles, you are supporting these developers and unintentionally contributing to the epidemic of unfinished and “fake” games cluttering digital storefronts.
If you have ever tried to peruse the PlayStation store during a big sale, you’ve probably been annoyed by the sheer number of low quality games taking up precious real estate on sale pages. It makes it extremely difficult to discover underground or indie games naturally.
We should do our part to drive out these bad development practices, not encourage them. After all, trophy hunting is a way to show our love of gaming and appreciation to developers.
You Will Spend More Money
As trophy hunters, we are often highly focused on getting the best bang for our buck; we want to get the greatest amount of playtime out of each dollar spent on video games. That’s why PlayStation Plus games and the included catalog titles are so popular among the community.
If you become addicted to shovelware games, it may seem like it’s a cheaper way to get trophies; after all, many of these titles are a dollar or less. But this is not true at all.
If you spend on average 1.00 USD on a game that you complete in 30 minutes, that is the equivalent to $2.00/hour.
As a counter-example, you could also get Baldur’s Gate 3 for 70.00 USD. Getting the platinum trophy can take anywhere from 150-200 hours based on major trophy guides. Using the same calculation on a conservative 150 hour run, that is the equivalent to spending $0.47/hour.
Another example is Stardew Valley, which can be purchased digitally for 15.00 USD. The platinum trophy takes at least 100 hours—in other words, about $0.15/hour.
You can even take a shorter game like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. The game can be had at a sale price of 50.00 USD physically and digitally. The platinum trophy can be achieved in just 30 hours; the equivalent of $1.67/hour.
Are shovelware games worth more to you than games like these? Just because they seem cheap at the outset doesn’t mean it’s actually true. In most cases, you are paying a premium for the privilege.
Do you really want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on these low quality games, simply to see your rank go up? Even if money isn’t a contributing factor, you should at least value your time. Spend your precious free time playing great games, not ones you tolerate.
Conclusion
Shovelware games have become a huge problem in digital storefronts and the trophy hunting community alike. There is a lot more value in a trophy hunting profile that strictly avoids these cheap titles and the temptation they represent. We should do our part to drive out these “games” to make room for developers that put care into their work and deserve to be discovered.
What is your opinion of shovelware on a trophy list? Do you give others a pass, but avoid it yourself? Let us know in the comments below. If you’d like to get some easy platinums from quality games, you should consider checking out our list of some of the best visual novels for trophy hunters.
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