Sony's PlayStation Store Faces Criticism Over Fake Flight Simulator Game

PlayStation gamers got a bit of a letdown this week after spotting what looked like Microsoft Flight Simulator on the PS Store, only to discover it's actually an unauthorized copycat game with no connection to Microsoft's popular title.

The mix-up started when a Reddit user shared Trophy information for something called "Flight Simulator 2025" for PS4 and PS5. Naturally, this created some buzz - who wouldn't be excited about Microsoft possibly bringing more Xbox games to PlayStation?

But eagle-eyed Reddit users quickly spotted the truth. "Sadly, this is just a copycat shovelware game."

The game is actually published by a company called Grizzly Games Limited - which, to make matters more confusing, shares its name with the legitimate indie team behind games like Thronefall. According to Eurogamer, this publisher's website shows what look like mobile games with glossy, AI-generated visuals. Even the Flight Simulator 2025 artwork shows telltale signs of AI generation, with oddly distorted plane parts and strange designs.

The real Grizzly Games team wasn't happy about this situation. In a statement, they clarified that this company is "using both our name and logo illegally" and represents "the absolute opposite of our values." Unfortunately, as a small two-person indie team, they don't have the legal resources to fight back effectively.

Despite these issues, Flight Simulator 2025 is still up on the PlayStation Store at the time of writing. Its store description makes some pretty bold claims about "ultra-realistic flight dynamics with breathtaking visuals," though no actual gameplay has been shown yet.

This whole situation has gamers talking again about the problem of low-quality shovelware cluttering digital stores. "Can shovelware just be banned from the store please? It makes browsing an absolute chore," complained one Reddit user.

PlayStation did try to tackle this problem back in 2022 when they cracked down on "spam" titles - those games designed mainly for easy Platinum Trophies rather than good gameplay. But clearly, the issue hasn't gone away completely.