Sony Bans Brazil's Afil Games From the PlayStation Store as Its 2026 Shovelware Purge Widens to Whole Publishers

Overview

Sony has ended its publishing relationship with Afil Games, a Brazil-based studio behind a large catalog of low-effort PlayStation titles, and is removing the publisher’s games from the PlayStation Store. According to Kotaku, “Afil Games’ over 140 titles will be removed from the PlayStation Store,” with the announcement surfacing on June 23, 2026. The move marks an escalation in a year-long effort by Sony to clear so-called shovelware from its storefront — shifting from delisting individual titles to cutting off entire publishers.

What We Know

Afil Games confirmed the split itself. The studio said “PlayStation has decided not to continue its partnership with Afil Games for future releases” and that “our games will be removed from the PSN Store in the near future,” as quoted by Kotaku. The studio is known for inexpensive titles that appeal to trophy hunters seeking to quickly increase their PlayStation Platinum counts.

The scale of Afil’s catalog has been reported differently across outlets. LEVEL UP reported that Afil Games claimed “the majority of its 140-game catalog has been removed from the PS Store.” A higher estimate came from Outlook Respawn, which reported that Afil was expected to have “more than 900 of its games pulled from the PlayStation Network.”

The removal is tied to revised storefront rules. LEVEL UP reported that Sony’s policies now impose “stricter quality and originality requirements,” making it “considerably more difficult for publishers to fast-track large quantities of derivative content.” An Afil representative acknowledged to the same outlet that “the submission process is no longer as permissive as it once was.”

The Afil action follows a string of earlier 2026 purges. GamingBible reported that Sony removed “over a thousand games” in January 2026, and that a separate April wave pulled “hundreds” of titles cited for “limited functionality and AI generated assets.” Outlook Respawn reported that the April wave removed “around 1,000 low-quality games” and that January’s action targeted publisher ThiGames. In May, Sony removed 12 titles from a developer called Testagamecreations, according to PlayStation LifeStyle, which described the company as having “quietly nuked another major ‘studio’ behind dozens of scam games and shovelware on the PS Store, along with all of its games.”

The April delistings named publishers including Welding Byte, GoGame Console Publisher, and VRCForge, and example titles such as Jesus Simulator, according to GamingBible.

What We Don’t Know

The exact size of Afil Games’ catalog remains unsettled: reporting ranges from roughly 140 titles to more than 900, and Sony has not published an official count tied to the Afil removal. Sony has also not released a public, itemized version of its revised publishing guidelines. PlayStation LifeStyle characterized the broader effort as “a recent bloodbath” in which Sony removed “thousands of games from the PS Store nearly every week,” but the platform holder has not confirmed a cumulative figure for 2026.

Analysis

The Afil decision signals a change in tactics rather than simply in pace. Earlier 2026 removals largely targeted individual titles flagged for reused assets or AI-generated content; cutting off a publisher’s entire pipeline — and declining future submissions — moves enforcement upstream to the source. Outlook Respawn described Sony’s enforcement options as ranging from “reduced store visibility, complete delisting, or permanent exile from Sony’s partner program.” For storefronts long criticized for surfacing trophy-padding asset flips, the test will be whether tighter submission gates curb the volume without sweeping up legitimate small developers.