Discoverability On The PlayStation Store Is Terrible, As Indie Publisher Showcases

Discoverability on digital storefronts is one of the biggest concerns on launch day for game developers, especially if the game you are launching isn't the sort that will take up a massive banner on a homepage. But for Descenders, which launched today on PS4, even searching the exact name didn't help.

Mike Rose, from publisher No More Robots, demonstrated this in a short video today showing how difficult it was to find Descenders on the PlayStation Store. Not only was the game not featured in any of the store's highlighted sub-categories for new releases or featured titles, but Rose had to scroll through numerous other titles to find Descenders even with a direct word search. Many of the games listed above Descenders didn't even match the search, making the issue even more frustrating.

This isn't the first time Rose, or No More Robots by extension, have highlighted issues with discoverability on PSN. When the publisher released Nowhere Prophet on PS4, it noted that it would likely not pursue the venture again with future games after its abysmal sales compared to every other platform.

"Quite frankly, I doubt we'll put any more games on PS4 after this," Rose tweeted earlier this month. "I'd heard it was bad, but holy f***, not even close to the sales we're achieving on Switch and Xbox."

Rose mentioned that Sony also didn't allow the publisher to offer a launch sale price, explaining that Sony was "too busy" to bother. Nowhere Prophet did launch with a discount on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. As for Descenders, it's out on the PlayStation Store now.