Sony Is Pulling a Ukrainian Dev's Entire PS Catalog With No Explanation

Ukrainian indie studio Ternox Games says Sony has unilaterally terminated its PlayStation developer and publisher agreement, with all of its games set to be removed from the PlayStation Store after August 23. The studio announced the news on X on August 16, saying no reason was given.

Thirteen games in total — some developed by Ternox, others it published on behalf of other developers — will be pulled from the store. Among them is Stonks-9800, a retro '80s-styled stock market sim that has been in Steam Early Access since July 2023 and carries an "overwhelmingly positive" rating there. A planned PS5 version of Stonks-9800 is now cancelled entirely. Ternox had hoped to release it in 2027 and even produce a physical disc edition. The studio says PlayStation Support has refused to engage with its arguments or respond to emails. "I'm really sorry that this happened and that I failed the developers whose games I published," the studio wrote. "But there's nothing I can do about it now, unfortunately."

The exact reason for the termination is unknown, but some observers online have suggested Ternox may have been caught in the crossfire of Sony's ongoing crackdown on shovelware — low-effort titles that have been flooding the PlayStation Store. Sony has reportedly been tightening its publishing guidelines and removing games it considers low quality. Ternox's titles don't obviously fit that description, which is part of why the situation has drawn attention. The incident lands at a particularly bad time for Sony's public image: the company recently confirmed it will stop producing physical PlayStation discs in January 2028, a decision that has sparked a backlash large enough to generate over 220,000 signatures on a petition demanding a reversal.

Ternox says it still holds a "tiny bit of hope" that Sony will reconsider, and has asked people to share its message. In the meantime, the studio is exploring physical editions for PC and Switch instead. Sony has not commented publicly on the termination.