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Shovelware is a term for individual video games or
software bundles In marketing, product bundling is offering several Product (business), products or services for sale as one combined product or service package. It is a common feature in many Imperfect competition, imperfectly competitive product and service ma ...
known more for the quantity of what is included than for the quality or usefulness. The metaphor implies that the creators showed little care for the quality of the original software, as if the new compilation or version had been created by indiscriminately adding titles "by the shovel" in the same way someone would shovel bulk material into a pile. The term "shovelware" is coined by semantic analogy to phrases like shareware and
freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for t ...
, which describe methods of software distribution. It first appeared in the early 1990s when large amounts of shareware
demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
programs were copied onto CD-ROMs and advertised in magazines or sold at computer flea markets.


Shovelware CD-ROMs

'' Computer Gaming World'' wrote in 1990 that for "those who do not wish to wait for "software that used the new CD-ROM format,
The Software Toolworks The Software Toolworks (commonly abbreviated as Toolworks) was an American software and video game developer based in Novato, California. The company was founded by Walt Bilofsky in 1980 out of his Sherman Oaks garage, which he converted into ...
and Access Software planned to release "game packs of several classic titles". By 1993 the magazine referred to software repackaged on CD-ROM as "shovelware", describing one collection from Access as having a "rather dusty menu" and another from The Software Toolworks ("the reigning king of software repackaging efforts") as including games that were "mostly mediocre even in their prime"; the one exception, '' Chessmaster 2000'', used "stunning CGA graphics". In 1994 the magazine described shovelware as "old and/or weak programs shoveled onto a CD to turn a quick buck". Although poor-quality collections existed at least as far back as the BBS era, the term "shovelware" became commonly used in the early 1990s to describe CD-ROMs with collections of shareware or public domain software. The capacity of CD-ROM was 450–700 times that of the floppy disk, and 6–16 times larger than the hard disks commonly fitted to personal computers in 1990. This outsized capacity meant that very few users would install the disc's entire contents, encouraging producers to fill them by including as much existing content as possible, often without regard to the quality of the material. Advertising the number of titles on the disc often took precedence over the quality of the content. Software reviewers, displeased with huge collections of inconsistent quality, dubbed this practice "shovelware". Some CD-ROM computer games had moderately sized games that did not fill the disc, which enabled game companies to bundle demo versions of other products on the same disc. The prevalence of shovelware has decreased due to the practice of downloading individual programs from a crowdsourced or curated
app store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the c ...
becoming the predominant mode of software distribution. It continues in some cases with bundled or pre-installed software, where many extra programs of dubious quality and functionality are included with a piece of hardware.


Shovelware video games

Low-budget, poor-quality video games, released in the hopes of being purchased by unsuspecting customers, are often referred to as "shovelware". This can lead to
discoverability Discoverability is the degree to which something, especially a piece of content or information, can be found in a search of a file, database, or other information system. Discoverability is a concern in library and information science, many aspects ...
issues when a platform has no type of quality control. Several well-known examples were released for the Wii, including ports of PlayStation 2 games which had previously only been released in Europe. Video games such as '' Ninjabread Man'', '' Anubis II'', '' Myth Makers: Trixie in Toyland'', and '' Rock 'n' Roll Adventures'', designed by Data Design Interactive have gained infamy for using the exact same gameplay, just with different level designs and textures. Shovelware video games often have a negative reception from critics and gamers. Blast! Entertainment Ltd., a defunct video game developer and publisher, are known for releasing
licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
shovelware games based on movies, television shows and books such as ''
An American Tail ''An American Tail'' is a 1986 American animated musical adventure film directed by Don Bluth from a screenplay by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss and a story by David Kirschner, Freudberg and Geiss. The film features the voices of Phillip Glass ...
'', ''
Beverly Hills Cop ''Beverly Hills Cop'' is a 1984 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr., story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr., and starring Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit cop ...
'', '' Casper and the Ghostly Trio'', ''
Jumanji ''Jumanji'' is a 1995 American fantasy adventure film directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor, and Jim Strain. Loosely based on Chris Van Allsburg's picture book of the same name, the film is the first ...
'', and '' Lassie'' to name a few which would all receive negative reception among their respective fans and critics. Phoenix Games, a former European publisher, is known for its line of value priced titles for the Playstation 2, Wii, DS, and PC many of which are poorly based on popular properties and offer very little in terms of actual gameplay. Instead, they've been reviewed by numerous gamers and critics as cheaply made short animated films. Asset flips are a type of shovelware that largely or entirely use pre-made assets in order to release games en masse. Called "fake" games by
Valve Corporation Valve Corporation is an American video game developer, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam and the franchises ''Half-Life'', '' C ...
, 173 were removed from Steam in one 2017 purge that included several sock puppets of Silicon Echo Studios.


See also

*
Freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for t ...
* Pre-installed software *
Product bundling In marketing, product bundling is offering several products or services for sale as one combined product or service package. It is a common feature in many imperfectly competitive product and service markets. Industries engaged in the practice ...
* Software bloat * Unwanted software bundling *
Video game crash of 1983 The video game crash of 1983 (known as the Atari shock in Japan) was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985, primarily in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including ma ...


References


External links


Archive of CD-ROM compilations
at Textfiles.com
Alistair B. Fraser on Academic Shovelware

Wired: On Wii Shovelware


{{software distribution Software distribution Bundled products or services Computer jargon Criticisms of software and websites