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A number of developers have stepped forward to state their optimism about the PlayStation 4’s support for indies.
Speaking to Develop individuals from companies as diverse as Gearbox and nDreams have expressed hope and positivity that, in contrast to previous sony consoles, the PS4 will be accessible and affordable for indies. Their views appear to reflect comments made to Develop by Sony Worldwide Studios SVP Michael Denny, who insisted indies are set to be core to the PS4.
"The PS4 looks like a much more practical option for indie devs than past Sony consoles," offered Mode 7 joint MD Paul Taylor (pictured). "I really appreciate what they’ve done in terms of its architecture. Also, there are loads of ways for players to share content, which helps out teams with smaller marketing budgets."
"[What] excites me about Sony’s approach is their eagerness to embrace cross platform gaming, cloud gaming, ‘games as a service’, indie digital-only publishers and free-to-play gaming," added nDreams CEO Patrick O’Luanaigh. "Their willingness to push into these areas will mean lots of innovative new IPs and new types of game arriving on the PlayStation Network, whether that’s Vita, PS4 or some other PlayStation device."
Elsewhere Gearbox Software FX artist Nick Peterson speculated that a platform similar to Microsoft’s XNA may be delivered by Sony.
"Indie for PS4, now that would be interesting," he said to Develop. "I wonder how much of the hardware they would open up for indies? My guess is it would be something akin to what Microsoft did with XNA for the Xbox 360. It would be neat though."
And FuturLab MD James Marsden, who’s indie outfit met with critical success on the Vita with Velocity, is sure the PS4 will extend what Sony’s handheld offered small studios.
"Sony are doing a great job supporting indie developers, particularly on the PS Vita," he said. "The message that indie is important for Sony on PS4 took centre stage with Jonathan Blow, so we’re sold, and hope to get our hands on a PS4 development kit as soon as possible."
The studios above some of the 26 developers and games tech professionals that spoke with Develop about the PS4, most of whom were largely positive about the platform. To read all their insights click here.
