Sony's flexibility with indie developers – something it's been driving home for a little while now – also extends to the concept of buy-in-alpha games. It's a concept that's gained acceptance after the wild success of Minecraft and we were curious if Sony was open to the idea, particularly after Steam announced its "early access" program.

"Yeah, if it doesn't have any bugs that are completely destroying the world," Adam Boyes, VP of publisher and developer relations at Sony America told Joystiq last night at the PlayStation Indie Arcade event. "[CCP's Dust 514] is a great example of putting out content that you know is not final. If you want to monetize it, that's fine. I mean, if you want to put out a game that's playable and does pass the checklists and stuff, you can. If it doesn't sell and you can't support, you may not want to support, but we absolutely support that."

Boyes noted the buy-in alpha openness wasn't just for the upcoming PlayStation 4, but could be applied to PS3, Vita or PlayStation mobile.

He continued, "We allow that on all of our platforms, that sort of continually updating and selling. Again, if people buy it and they're passionate about it, and you want to improve it and make it better over time you can."

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/sony-open-to-buy-in-alpha-games-for-playstation-platforms/

And an interview from Sessler from GDC on Sony's approach to Indie devs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feGQ6glgEzE

hmm, now that I re-read this story again, I am kind of worried about the quality of games with this approach, but then I am reminded of Fallout and Elder's' games and I realize that quality control doesn't necessarily mean shit.

Getting steamy.

sweet

Yeah, that's what I thought. I think they'll be no problem if they add a section to the store for these 'early-access' games, but if they get mixed up with all the other content it could have a negative effect on the perceived quality of PSN overall. In general though, I think it's a marvelous idea and another indication that Sony have changed since Cerny took control of console development.

That is the worry isnt it? Some developers you would happily put some money towards knowing that even the unfinished products will likely have few bugs. Others you just know will destroy your console if you are stupid enough to do this with. And yes I am liooking at the same dev you have mentioned.