a90skid.com
  • Shop
  • Reviews
  • Shop
  • Reviews
0
A 90s Kid
  • Shop
  • Reviews

Sony’s E3 2017 Conference was all about the games, but compared to Microsoft’s ID-led indie showcase, the PS4 was relatively light on independents this year.

Gamasutra spoke with several indie developers at E3 2017 to shed some light on Sony’s current relationship with the smaller devs that add so much personality to a gaming library.

David Condolora of Brain & Brain – ‘Burly Men at Sea’ PS4/Vita

About working with Sony

Condolora: “Actually it’s been very very good. We’re actually not doing the technical work of the porting ourselves, so Sony is helping us do that. And it’s been very smooth. Ports came together very fast. Communication’s been fast. Really, Sony America, at least, has been very very good.

Navigating the Sony ecosystem has been a little more difficult because there’s so many different parts—Sony Europe, and Japan, and Asia. Just getting a handle on all that has been a little more difficult. But they’ve been very supportive.”

On Sony vs Microsoft

“I think that Sony is still the biggest game in town. You want to be on a platform that has the most eyeballs on it. Our experience with Microsoft has sort of been the opposite of Sony and sort of what you’re describing. They may be a little more out there, but for a developer like us, where maybe our game is a little bit too small or niche for them to care too much about it behind the scenes. So there wasn’t the interest there.

But I will say, as far as console is concerned, the platform we are looking forward to seeing how it develops is the Switch to see how that fits into this equation. We’re talking about a binary thing, Sony and Microsoft, but then you have a third platform that’s becoming more valuable. I wonder how that’s going to change the market as well.”

Justin Ng of Gattai Games – Stifled for PSVR

On Sony’s indie priority

“The way I look at it is even though I’m a bit bummed out that we didn’t get showcased, but I think it really boils down to them as a business. The bottom line is they need to do what’s best for their business. And unfortunately maybe doing indies is not that right now. And that’s unfortunate, but there’s not much we can do. We just try to get help other places, basically.”

James Marsden of FuturLab – Tiny Trax PSVR

On completely changing a Sony-approved PSVR game

“Would you like to make a VR game?” So we said, “Yeah, absolutely, we’d love to do something, but we’re really busy on another project.” And they said, “Well, the window of opportunity to sign a game with us, for this particular moment is quite short. So we need a pitch quickly.” And this was around the time that drone racing videos were being shown on Facebook.

Having spent no time in VR we thought that was a good idea, so we pitched that. And they agreed, they signed it up. And then we spent some time in VR and realized that would be a disaster, because there would be so much motion sickness.

So rather than go back to Sony and say, “We’ve got no faith in the game we signed with you,” we had to come up with a Plan B. So that’s when we really started thinking about what works in VR. And Dave, our tester at the time, we basically tasked him, we loaded him up with hardware, all different headsets that were available. Gave him a Steam account and just said, “Figure it out.”

So, he came back and said, “Look, the things that really work in VR in these early days are games where the action comes to you.” So he proposed Scalextric. We just thought, that’s a genius idea. So we prototyped this in parallel to the other project, the drone racing. Because we wanted to be able to show Sony two examples: One that was not going to work and one that would work. And fortunately, they agreed with us. So this is the result of that.”

These are just a few highlights form Gamasutra’s investigation into Sony’s relationship with their indie developers. Check the article here for more.

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Related Topics
  • 2017
  • e3
  • gaming
  • indies
  • PS4
  • sony
Mathew Falvai

Mathew is a huge fan of Space, Strategy, and Shadowrun (Genesis version is #1). When it comes to games and films, he’d much rather experience a 10/10 classic from yesteryear than a 6/10 modern blandfest. He does feel we’re living in a gaming golden age with the power of indie developers at an all-time high, but wishes AAA publishers would take more risks. Mat believes it’s only a matter of time before the pendulum swings the other way and new ideas take their rightful place above reboots.

You May Also Like
View Post
  • 3 min
  • Opinion
  • PC
  • PlayStation
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5

Death Stranding – You Are Needed

  • Jonas B.
  • April 20, 2022
Dying Light 2 Protagonist
View Post
  • 6 min
  • Opinion
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

Dying Light 2 Stay Human Review – The Infected Return

  • Matthew Owen
  • February 25, 2022
Elden Ring network test impressions
View Post
  • 4 min
  • News
  • Opinion
  • PC
  • PlayStation
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Xbox
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

Elden Ring Network Test Impressions

  • Jonas B.
  • November 15, 2021
House of Ashes Buried Sumerian Temple
View Post
  • 6 min
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Review

  • Matthew Owen
  • November 6, 2021
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Monkeys
View Post
  • 6 min
  • Nintendo
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • Review
  • Xbox One

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Review – A Barrel of Fun

  • Matthew Owen
  • November 2, 2021
View Post
  • 7 min
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

Far Cry 6 Review – Yara’s Revolution

  • Matthew Owen
  • October 28, 2021
Raz Explores the Eye Altar World in Psychonauts 2
View Post
  • 5 min
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • Review
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

Psychonauts 2 Review – A Mind-Blowing Trip

  • Matthew Owen
  • September 17, 2021
Assassin's Creed Valhalla Siege of Paris DLC
View Post
  • 4 min
  • Opinion
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

The Assassin’s Creed Valhalla DLCs Have Me Excited for the Future

  • Matthew Owen
  • September 10, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

A90KID.COM

VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY & ENTERTAINMENT

A 90s Kid is an active website and media channel, dedicated to providing you information and entertainment related to the video games industry

Navigation
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Refund and Returns Policy
Recent Articles
  • The Best Bosses in Elden Ring May 10, 2022
  • What’s The Best Material For The Next Great Original Epic? April 20, 2022
  • Death Stranding – You Are Needed April 20, 2022
  • Elden Ring Review – The Best Souls Game Yet? March 19, 2022
  • Dying Light 2 Stay Human Review – The Infected Return February 25, 2022
A 90s Kid
© 2022

Input your search keywords and press Enter.