Ben-DutkaWhen it comes to exclusives, Sony excels. And they're well aware of that fact so they'll continue to support exclusive content.
Today, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (SCEA) has announced a three-year, $20 million investment plan specifically for the development of exclusive PlayStation Network titles. This also includes financial support for the Pub Fund, a unique program for independent developers announced back at the Game Developers Conference in 2009.
We've already seen some of the highest-rated and most popular downloadable games in existence on the PSN; the likes of Joe Danger , Critter Crunch , Flower and the PixelJunk series have really made the digital world worth experiencing. The Pub Fund shows Sony's dedication to keeping independent quality alive and kicking; SCEA "helps with game design and marketing plans but allows the developer to own the game's intellectual property, publish the title and set the price."
Future games slated to release under this model include Eufloria , Okabu , Papo & Yo , and the recently revealed PAYDAY: The Heist . Said Brandon Stander, SCEA director of PlayStation Marketing:
"PlayStation Network is poised to deliver an enviable line-up of exclusive and imaginative games this year, with highly anticipated first-party titles like thatgamecompany's Journey and PixelJunk Sidescroller. We're doubling down on PlayStation Network software, and under this additional investment over the next three years, we anticipate a steady flow of high-quality titles that can't be found anywhere else."
this is a good move, but i must say i'm more into full budget games. i was hoping psn might beccome a haven for games that publishers seem afraid to release these days like turn based jrpgs. we have the ps1 classics but no new material really. still, investing in exclusive psn content seems smart to me.
No new material…?
Um…as far as I can tell, the ONLY "new material" can be found on the PSN. In fact, most of the best are all original and unique.
i was talking about new jrpg material. unless i'm overlooking it, i can't find it. i wasn't referring to psn as a whole. i know it has plenty of a new material.
No, you have to look at the PSP for that. There is plenty there, even if all of it isn't so great.
As for turn-based RPG-like combat on the PSN, you can check out Faery: Legends of Avalon.
Also, Costume Quest. The combat is very JRPG-like.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 7/14/2011 6:37:56 AM
Bravo Sony.
Cool. I like these smaller sized, lower priced games, but highly entertaining games. Through industry connections I got Ms. Splosion Man. It's normally something I would've never have purchased without having tried it first.. and even then I wouldn't have even tried it without it being free.. huh? wha?
anyway. I can't believe how crazy entertaining, unique, and smartly made it is.
Other good fun download titles I own are SuperStardust HD, Joe Danger, Zen's Pinball games, Soldner X-2. All well worth it. I do really want that new Contra game.. don't know if I care a lot for the perverted(sarcasm) anime style, but it is on sale.. but I think it may be had for an even better deal in a few months.
The next download title I want is Journey. "dont stop believing!"
I want to see scribble shooter released. It's a Home game, but could just as easily be a PSN game. I think it's a game that falls into this category of independent developer. Home and PSN could be very fertile ground for such developers.
I LOVE that Sony is doing this. I love PSN titles, and I still play Fat Princess and Joe Danger online when I need a break from playing a full budget title. Eufloria, Papo & Yo, and Journey are all on my radar. I'll wait and see about Payday though
How good does Papo & Yo look? Goodness!
Excellent work Sony, way to invest into the PSN.
There's a statement in there that nearly defines the difference in philosophy at work here vs the other example people us – Microsoft.
<<quote>>
SCEA "helps with game design and marketing plans but allows the developer to own the game's intellectual property, publish the title and set the price."
<<end quote>>
See, Sony is not only providing assistance, and a media for publishing the game, they leave the game IP in the hands of the developer, as well as allowing the developer to be the publisher and decide pricing. In other words Sony is completely hands off with regard to the developer's ownership and rights, and are there merely to assist and facilitate. MS on the other hand wants a piece of the pie, and doesn't allow indie devs the complete ownership and freedom to price and publish their work – essentially MS tries to 'option' the IP of independent developers. That's quite a contrast.
Why must you use every chance you have to bash Microsoft? They are hosting a Summer Contest for Indie developers to get their games on Xbox Live. Fans even get to vote about which ones they like!
http://indiegames-uprising.com/News.aspx
How is that bashing?
It's merely drawing a contrast.
Because what he's saying isn't true. I'm all about innovation and giving Indie Developers a chance to showcase their work with different platforms. MS allows these developers to easily distribute their work without the hassle of seeing it get lost in a sea of flash games if they were to release it via the PC. On top of that this contest allows the "highest quality" Indie games to be voted in by their peers and by fans. None of these titles are published or owned by MS.
You guys might be thinking of XBLA titles and not the XBLIG that I'm referring to. Two completely different ways to distribute your game.
Cut Highlander some slack, he's very passionate about techie business practices and the health of the industry and I applaud him for that.
But do you know the licence deal they are offered to publish their games on the MS distribution network?
Not that I know, I'm just asking. Cause what Highly emphasis on here is how Sony offer a framework, a channel to publish their games *without* taking ownership of their creative work.
If I understand correctly, by this strategy Sony supplies the flowerbed for the developers to plant their independent seeds. Microsoft let you plant your seeds too, but then take the flowers and sell them.
(ok that was not the most manly metaphor I've come up with, I'll admit that.)
Last edited by Beamboom on 7/13/2011 1:49:34 PM
The above was in reply to Jimmy btw 🙂
The indie games are NOT published by MS. And to my knowledge MS doesn't set their price, but they need to be less than $5. And with any media form, no publisher is both good and bad. They would act as a quality filter for the market, so obviously there will be plenty of crap titles out there with none of these games having publishers. But at least they're out there, right? The biggest problem with this for the developers is that they've been complaining that its too hard to make money with so many games out there (see: iPhone/android games), so thats where that contest comes in. The 8 best titles to enter get plenty of marketing by MS without MS affecting the production of the titles at all. Its pretty cool.
What Sony is doing is very similar, but also different. They are using money to pay for marketing and to help with some of the gamemaking, while letting the developer to do as they see fit with the project. These titles also, apparently will be exclusive.
I love my PSN, XBLA, and XBL Indie games, so I see this as more progess within the industry.
Well Jimmy, I don't now the details. Maybe this is mainly corporate marketing talk from SOE. They are, after all, a company. 🙂
Nevertheless, I *like* the attitude they express, regardless of if they are alone with this strategy or not. 🙂
(And yeah – I'm a Sony fan and M$ disliker. 😉 )
Last edited by Beamboom on 7/13/2011 2:14:46 PM
Jimmy,
It's a contrast. Microsoft is well known to want far more control over the content on XBL than Sony exercises on PSN. That includes the publishing, pricing and often times the ownership because MS does like to option part ownership of IPs if the developer will go along with it. Sorry, but that's all true.
As supporting evidence I offer this quote from Sean Murray one of the minds behind Joe danger.
"PSN route has always been the best fit for us. We left our previous jobs at bigger developers so we could have the freedom to make the games we wanted. Sony understand that freedom and are happy to give it. For instance, we’re the publisher on Joe Danger, probably the world’s smallest, so we do everything from marketing and testing to getting the game localised. PSN is the only platform that would allow us to do that."
Perhaps a better question for you Jimmy is why you feel you must answer every perceived criticism of Microsoft. You should know by now that I don't generally make baseless statements – even about Microsoft.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 7/13/2011 2:54:14 PM
I'll throw another log on the fire with this quote from Thomas Bidaux (ICO Partners CEO);
"My experience is that Microsoft doesn't allow itself a lot of margin for negotiation and that's usually fine for offline games. But when you start to consider things like servers, billing, patching or even customer supports, it becomes a lot more complicated. It is my experience that Sony will be a lot more open for a publishers to manage all those aspects.
It can also as simple as the fact that Microsoft isn't ready for free to play as a business model – and they would want to control the item shops which any existing online publisher would refuse."
And further Thomas Farrer (producer of DUST 514) said Sony is "a lot more open" when allowing you to do certain things and in truth, the team just didn't think a Live version would be possible. "I think some of the challenges we'd meet would be tricky," Farrer said, adding later that it's nice to work on only one platform because "you don't have to make any awkward compromises, technically."
'nuff said.
@ Highlander
I know you don't make baseless claims, know what you're talking about nearly all the time, and all around am passionate about games. However, I really feel that you're wrong with some of these claims. I agree that over all MS doesn't allow nearly the same amount of freedom that Sony does with distributing games. And they definately don't promote innovation with full-budget titles.
I've been on XBL since the orginal XBox back in 2003. I've watched the XBLA mature into what it is today. I've also watched the birth of the indie games section of the marketplace. I've downloaded close to 100 XBLA and XBL Indie games over the years. What you are referring to, and maybe mixing up with these indie games, are the problems developers face releasing XBLA games with Microsoft. MS prefers only exclusive titles to be released on their platform (if MS were to publish it), and nearly all the games released are screened first and need to be approved. Microsoft obviously will receive a ton of royalties before the developer receives any money, but they do have the benefit of MS marketing their product during their seasonal sales. Sony is providing over $20 million for these new PSN games, but similarily, they will be exclusive titles with the benefit of Sony's marketing.
This is piggy-backing what I said in yesterday's thread, but MS does a great job at supporting the Indie developers (which is very different from their XBLA games, and most PSN titles). Here, they do NOT publish the games, do not set the prices, and have no input in what gets put into the game. The developers have a quick and easy way to release their game to a whole new market of people that they wouldn't on the PC. I do think that they deserve some credit for supporting that innovation. There have been a few success stories from it, and hopefully more to come with that summer contest I was talking about.
Last edited by jimmyhandsome on 7/13/2011 3:16:11 PM
@Highlander.
Tough we love to read your techie posts, right now your information is incorrect.
You are referring to MS policies to get a game published by them in the XBLA section of their marketplace, which in esence is very close to what SONY is doing with this announcement, but Jimmy is referring to the indie development program which the games are not published or owned in anyway by MS.
Regular Joes, can download the XNA game develoments tools for free and start coding in ther regular PC's and publish directly in the Indie section of the Xbox game marketplace, thoug the game must not be over $5.00.
Unlike MS's Arcade section or SONY's PSN games, there is no need to buy an official game development kit from them. Just use the free tools, code and your imagination is the limit.
SONY has yet to announce and implement something similar and that's what Jimmy is referring to.
Ignitus & Jimmy,
Thank you both for your clarification. I do apologize, I wasn't referring to XNA I was referring to indie developers of full games, rather than the smaller games on XNA. Please read my comments as addressing the non XNA element of XBL. I was talking in terms of indie developers who make 'full' games rather than smaller games that might even be termed disposable. I don't mean that they are trash, merely that they have a short life and there is no substantial investment so they are easily consumed before moving on.
I wasn't aware that the XNA games were as flexible or available as you're both suggesting. I agree with you both that it would be nice to have such a facility on the PS3/PSN also. I think that is sort of the concept behind the PS Minis that Sony has. But the Mini's aren't nearly as 'basement development' friendly as you are saying XNA is. The minis are however very quick to market, inexpensive and have the look and feel of the kind of games that I see in Android market place or used to see often as free or shareware for PC.
Actually, if PlayStation Suite takes flight on the PS3 as well as the Vita and Xperia Play, it has the potential to be what you're talking about because as far as I know (and information is sketchy) PS Suite is intended for smaller, quickly developed games that can be developed by anyone and run within the PSS environment. Such games should work anywhere that supports that PSS environment, and I thought that I had read that such games would not be sold through Sony, but directly via a market place.
Obviously a lot has yet to happen with PSS, but it might emulate some of what you appear to be talking about with XNA. So in that regard, Sony seems to be taking a page from the Microsoft book.
It's a great way for some talented developers to catch some recognition. If I'm not mistaken I think this is how MS orginally found "Team Meat" (the creators of Meat Boy) by some other game they were making at the time. I'd love to see Sony adopt a similar model.
I think Sony is trying, but after the hacking of their console and network security I think that they will unfortunately be more wary of how they do it. How does MS handle that in XNA? Is it a virtualized environment that prevents a malware attack by a rogue developer? Or do Microsoft require the game go through some basic QA first?
After you think you are done with your game, you submit its binary to a comitte (the tools take care of the submission process)where it gets screened for basic QA.
Here is a link that explains it in better detail:
http://create.msdn.com/en-US/home/about/how_it_works_review
Very informative conversation you guys had! Thank you, I learned some new stuff. 🙂 😛
At least they're dedicated to making the network worthwhile. These improvements may come slowly, but they're coming nonetheless, and what better way to please gamers than by giving them games?
Also, I really like that they're backing up what they said a few days ago with this initiative. I'm still waiting for that PSN BD compilation though…
I think this is a great way to support smaller game companies and I expect that going forward these are going to be easily put onto the Vita, which will strengthen that library and the platform as a whole. There really are some people who don't much want to get into a big Uncharted game on a handheld (the gadget fiends) and are perfectly content playing mini games like angry birds or what have you.
sweet!
please, can one of them be a 2D platformer?
so many to choose from on XBLA with splosion man, ms splosion man, super meat boy, limbo, shadow complex, illomilo.
last 2D platformer i can think of that released on the PSN was earthworm jim, and that was not exclusive, actually a timed exclusive for XBLA.
fantastic game though, so sad to see interplay in financial trouble!
maybe EA should pick them up, they would go along perfectly with there newly acquired pop cap games.