As we mentioned in one of our specials , which we always invite you to relate to discover all the curiosities on the subject, it is exactly from July 2, 2008 that the PlayStation games introduced the trophy function. Twelve years later, we can count on a list that has now surpassed the ten thousand titles that integrate this feature and on a universe of sites, blogs, forums, apps and social networks dedicated to hunting for trophies and comparing enthusiasts determined to unlock also the last of the cups in the most disparate games. Last but not least (in fact, the first one) our forum , always up to date and, in recent times, even more active than usual.
As the next-gen approaches, the question that arises (one of many, actually) is one: what will become of the trophies with PlayStation 5? The most obvious answer is the one you are giving yourself at this precise moment and it is the reason that nobody should have asked the problem: nothing will change and the trophies will continue to be offered as an additional function on all titles, exactly as happened in the passage from PlayStation 3 to PlayStation 4 and how it happened in the portable version for PlayStation Vita. But are we really sure that Sony wants to continue on the same path, or is it possible to adjust the route, if not a real change, to obtain even better results?
Quick psychology
Results that, without being great analysts or multi-graduate psychologists, are there for all to see. The function of the trophies, or the similar rewards present on other platforms and linked to particular actions to be performed in the games, has the clear purpose of artificially increasing the longevity of a title, as well as making us discover some peculiarities that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. Although that of trophy hunters is a rather narrow niche of the entire panorama of gamers, it is a niche made up of people who are willing to continue a game long after its conclusion only to obtain Platinum. In the case of collectors this may not make much difference, but for those who, for example, are used to reselling games after finishing them,
It’s not all. The subgroup of the completists, in fact, is not satisfied with unlocking Platinum’s trophy, but needs to finish the trophy list 100%, to see the accursed progress bar on the PlayStation Network fill up. Translated in economic terms, these players will have an extra push towards the purchase of any DLC that is placed on the market and will return to a game even months after its release. A result that, without trophies, would be difficult to achieve, except in exceptional cases.
Still thinking about vil money, it is precisely the attraction exerted by the Platinum cups that has given birth to an entire strand of games that seem guided more by the desire to be palatable in trophy terms than to be beautiful to play. The various Ratalaika, Artifex Mundi, Sometimes You and Lightwood Games have built their success on lists of trophies that are very easy to complete and divided among countless platforms and regions of the store, to conquer that slice of hunters that does not make problems (rightly and in the midst of its free will, of course, because we don’t want to accuse anyone) to prefer quantity over quality.
The mechanism behind these economic implications is always the same and, as we said, it is cheap psychology. On the one hand, the reward system is directly linked to that of the rankings and, where there is a ranking, a competition is mathematically activated. Competing to who has more cups, or who is higher in the leaderboard, or who has a higher percentage of completion of the games, or who has first unlocked a certain Platinum nationally or worldwide is only a part the reasons that can be the basis for buying a game. A purchase that perhaps would not have been if the trophies had not existed, because for example a simple title does not reflect our videogame tastes,
