As you’ve been reading, and will read tomorrow in Ask PSLS, indies are a big part of the PS4 ecosystem, with Sony devoting a large chunk of stage time to a wide variety of these ‘smaller’ titles.
In a 2 part series by VG247, they interviewed a bunch of different developers about indie development and the policies surrounding consoles, with Sean Murray of Hello Games (Joe Danger) saying that “to us, the next generation is about quality, not quantity. You could take a game you’ve built in Unity and hit export for PS4, and that’s great. But just imagine what more you can do. It’s not just another platform to ship on, it’s a huge opportunity.” Though their next project is only titled Project Skyscraper at the moment, it’s giving them a “real buzz.”
Of course, this current generation of consoles has turned some developers to the easy-to-use Steam service, including Mark Morris from Introversion Software (Darwinia+). He explained that it took four years and $30,000 just to have his game certified on Xbox Live, but wasn’t properly advertised by Microsoft once released. When he was asked if the PS4’s indie initiative changed his mindset on consoles, he said:
To be honest, I don’t care. I think the most exciting developments over the last few years have been on PC with crowd-sourcing and pay what you want sales, combined with Valve’s continued stellar performance that really make me question why anyone would want to jump into bed with Microsoft or Sony at the moment.
Continuing with the Valve attention were Mike Roush and Alex Neuse, Co-Founders of Gaijin Games (Runner2), who said that “these console folks truly do not know how to woo their audiences towards downloadable games in any meaningful way. And this is something they need to figure out. If they don’t all indies will just stop trying and will decide to do business solely with Valve.”
Thankfully, it does seem as though Sony has begun to figure out how to handle indie devs with the PS4, with Mike and Alex adding:”This is the first thing that Sony has done in a long time that’s really exciting. The PS4 truly sounds like it wants to be a platform for games first and foremost. And that’s great. It could give Sony some leverage in the next generation of consoles for sure.” The co-founders are cautious about the PS4 though, as “we just hope that while they are supporting more indies, they also help to find an audience for those indie games on their new console.”
For Sony and Nintendo’s indie efforts, Brian Provinciano (Retro City Rampage) said that “both have taken huge steps over the past year to reduce the barriers and streamline the process. Sony’s indeed doing a lot of legwork to support indies interested in bringing games to their platforms though. They provide more hands-on help than a lot of publishers, yet you never receive a bill for their services. It’s incredible.”
Which console do you think the majority of indie developers will support the most in the long run? PS4, Wii U, or Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below.
