Indie dev says Sony suddenly ended their publishing deal without “any reason,” delisting their games and cancelling PS5 port of Steam game with 97% ‘overwhelmingly positive’ reviews, won’t explain or respond “in any way”

It appears Sony has unilaterally cut ties with Ukrainian developer Ternox Games. The company, most notable for anime stock market sim Stonks-9800, claims there’s been no explanation from the PlayStation manufacturer over the decision, which will result in its games being delisted and at least one port being canceled.

Ternox Games made the announcement on August 17, saying its deal with Sony had been unceremoniously canceled. “Sony PlayStation unilaterally terminated my PlayStation developer and publisher agreement without giving me any reason,” the dev writes on Twitter.

“PlayStation Support refuses to listen to my arguments or even respond to my emails in any way,” it adds.

Stonks-9800 was slated for a PlayStation 5 version, but that’s off the table. A shame, because it’s a fun, inventive game that could attract a whole other audience on Sony’s system. Essentially, you play as a Japanese salary man who’s trying to use stocks to make his way up in the world.

The visuals are heavily influenced by ’80s anime, and it’s largely text-based. It has over 1,380 reviews on Steam, and 97% of those are positive. Getting on the PS Store would’ve widened Ternox’s potential audience considerably, while offering more fascinating games for the users there.

The plan was to do a PS5 disc version in 2027, just ahead of Sony ceasing production on physical games. Since that’s no longer feasible, Ternox promises to “do my best” to do physical releases on PC and Nintendo Switch.

A total of 13 earlier releases from Ternox are already available on the PS Store, but you only have until August 23 to get them. These are a mix of in-house releases and from outside developers.

Sony ending PlayStation discs “was always going to happen,” says analyst, as the PS6 costing $1,000 would “limit your audience quite significantly”

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.