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Forums - Sony Discussion - Theory: The reason why Sony focuses on indies so much.

Dadrik said:
curl-6 said:
Seems to me more like a stopgap attempt to counter the lack of big games now that just about everything's been pushed back to 2015.


There weren't "big games" at the beginning of the PS3 era either. But they didn't support indie studios like this.

They were better prepared in general this time around compared to last gen.



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curl-6 said:
Dadrik said:
curl-6 said:
Seems to me more like a stopgap attempt to counter the lack of big games now that just about everything's been pushed back to 2015.


There weren't "big games" at the beginning of the PS3 era either. But they didn't support indie studios like this.

They were better prepared in general this time around compared to last gen.


How ? It's almost the same situation.

The "big" studios are working on their games, just like last gen. These games won't come out until the 2nd/3rd year of the gen, just like last gen, etc...



Just because you have an opinion doesn't mean you are necessarily right.

VanceIX said:
Many of those studios will never pan out. Maybe a couple studios with big hits, but not all of them.

And it's not like Sony is giving financial support to all the indie devs. They cherry-pick a few promising ones and go from there. Sony's sponsorship of indies is pretty overblown.

Well, You done goof'd. You have unleashed the holy wrath of the PS fans. Godspeed.



"Trick shot? The trick is NOT to get shot." - Lucian

DrDoomz said:
VanceIX said:

1) I'm downplaying them?

2) Just pointing out that the notion that Sony is nurturing indies so that they may one day become great studios is a bit overstated.

3) There are only a few indies that they have prioritized, and even fewer that will become anything.

4) Their policies are great, as I've said in this thread and in others, so I'm not downplaying them, just pointing out that people shouldn't get their hopes up about Sony amassing a lot of successful indie devs. Jeeze. 

 

1) In your usual passive-aggressive-I-think-they're-doing-good-but-not-really kind of way, yes.

2) Based on?

3) "Few" is a subjective term. In comparison to their competitors, certainly not "few". If you're talking about all indie devs in general, then duh, water is wet, too but isn't really relevant.

4) People aren't "getting their hopes up" about succesful indie devs at all. At least not in this thread. It was about the intelligent business decision making that came into the supporting of indie devs as some of them may very well become AAA's in the future. Which makes sense and is the same principle followed by venture capitalism.

1.) Yeah, no. I'm optomistic on pletnty of threads, I just don't heap compliments when none are due. It's also really weird that you claim to know about my posts, since that would imply you read the majority of them, which I really doubt you do. 

2.) Based on the fact that most indies die very fast in today's crowded industry. Some make it after their first game or two, but a lot of other simply crash. And most of which that do make it are NEVER going to be AAA studios. AA, maybe, but AAA? Doubtful. This isn't the '90s, where indie studios had little competition and could grow. And the support Sony gives them won't magically make them bigger studios.

3.) Few, as in a very small fraction of indie games released on PSN. The indie games on PSN are also just a fraction oif the indie games on PC.

4.) And that's the exact mentality I'm talking about. There is very little chance any of those developers will ever become AAA. Once again, maybe the smallest fraction of indie devs go anywhere near AAA, and Sony would need some great luck to single out any noticeable amount. The pressure on indie devs is crazy, prety much none have any sort of cash needed to jumpstart a legitimate AAA studio, and won't even after Sony helps publish or develop the game. The amount of money, manpower, and skill needed for a AAA studio is a huge barrier to entry. Most indies are made by just one person or a small team, none of them experienced in the type of game design needed for AAA blockbusters.

Areym said:
VanceIX said:
Many of those studios will never pan out. Maybe a couple studios with big hits, but not all of them.

And it's not like Sony is giving financial support to all the indie devs. They cherry-pick a few promising ones and go from there. Sony's sponsorship of indies is pretty overblown.

Well, You done goof'd. You have unleashed the holy wrath of the PS fans. Godspeed.

I've unleashed their wrath a long time ago. Apparently people see me as "passive-agressive" to Sony now, even though I have gamed more on my PS4 than any of my other current-gen consoles.



                                                                                                               You're Gonna Carry That Weight.

Xbox One - PS4 - Wii U - PC

Dadrik said:
curl-6 said:
Dadrik said:

There weren't "big games" at the beginning of the PS3 era either. But they didn't support indie studios like this.

They were better prepared in general this time around compared to last gen.


How ? It's almost the same situation.

The "big" studios are working on their games, just like last gen. These games won't come out until the 2nd/3rd year of the gen, just like last gen, etc...

The indie scene was much smaller at the  dawn of the PS3. That and dev costs hadn't yet reached gargantuan proportions. Devs ended up finding out the hard way that AAA budgets bite. This time around, Sony realized that providing a steady flow of extravagent AAA games is difficult, and compensated by going after the indies.



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Just to be clear : The Tomorrow Children, Wild and Rime are not indie game :)



Predictions for end of 2014 HW sales:

 PS4: 17m   XB1: 10m    WiiU: 10m   Vita: 10m

 

The whole "indie" thing is just another bullet point for the Sony camp to add to their talking points. They conveniently forget all the "indie" titles that populated the 360 and XBLA over the past generation such as Castle Crashers, Braid, and the biggest indie title of them all, Minecraft, just to name a few.

But for some reason M$ is "bad" for indie games and Sony is good, as they are good for developer relations in general. Right... just ask developers like Free Radical and Factor 5 how they're doing these days after their exclusive partnerships with Sony over the past gen.



On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.

NightDragon83 said:

The whole "indie" thing is just another bullet point for the Sony camp to add to their talking points. They conveniently forget all the "indie" titles that populated the 360 and XBLA over the past generation such as Castle Crashers, Braid, and the biggest indie title of them all, Minecraft, just to name a few.

But for some reason M$ is "bad" for indie games and Sony is good, as they are good for developer relations in general. Right... just ask developers like Free Radical and Factor 5 how they're doing these days after their exclusive partnerships with Sony over the past gen.

This isnt true at all. the reason people have a connotation of sony = win for Indies is because Sony devotes presentation time to them and isnt afraid to use the word Indie a lot during their presentations. Remember when they had an entire segment with like 8 indie developers on stage each showing their games on screen behind them. 

No one is saying MSFT doesnt do well by indies but Sony is actually hanging their console identity on them whereas MSFT isnt. Thats all. MSFT has half heartedly done some work witht heir twitter indie handle but Sony is pushing it as an identity to their console. The same way as Kinect was pushed as an identity to Xbox but PSEye isnt. different focus and PR.



NightDragon83 said:

The whole "indie" thing is just another bullet point for the Sony camp to add to their talking points. They conveniently forget all the "indie" titles that populated the 360 and XBLA over the past generation such as Castle Crashers, Braid, and the biggest indie title of them all, Minecraft, just to name a few.

But for some reason M$ is "bad" for indie games and Sony is good, as they are good for developer relations in general. Right... just ask developers like Free Radical and Factor 5 how they're doing these days after their exclusive partnerships with Sony over the past gen.


Lol so true. Indies were always to be left out for some reasons and were not counted as real games. I think Steam made waht indy gaming is today, MS and Xbox Live proved that indy games could do really good on consoles not jus PC. Last gen we had so many indy gems. This generation it's Sony's turn to make indy devs shine but to a lesser degree imo. It's great that now every gamers can give indy some love. Hope a lot of them will eventualy expand and make more/bigger games.



VanceIX said:

1.) Yeah, no. I'm optomistic on pletnty of threads, I just don't heap compliments when none are due. It's also really weird that you claim to know about my posts, since that would imply you read the majority of them, which I really doubt you do. 

2.) Based on the fact that most indies die very fast in today's crowded industry. Some make it after their first game or two, but a lot of other simply crash. And most of which that do make it are NEVER going to be AAA studios. AA, maybe, but AAA? Doubtful. This isn't the '90s, where indie studios had little competition and could grow. And the support Sony gives them won't magically make them bigger studios.

3.) Few, as in a very small fraction of indie games released on PSN. The indie games on PSN are also just a fraction oif the indie games on PC.

4.) And that's the exact mentality I'm talking about. There is very little chance any of those developers will ever become AAA. Once again, maybe the smallest fraction of indie devs go anywhere near AAA, and Sony would need some great luck to single out any noticeable amount. The pressure on indie devs is crazy, prety much none have any sort of cash needed to jumpstart a legitimate AAA studio, and won't even after Sony helps publish or develop the game. The amount of money, manpower, and skill needed for a AAA studio is a huge barrier to entry. Most indies are made by just one person or a small team, none of them experienced in the type of game design needed for AAA blockbusters.

 

1) Your "passive aggressiveness" has nothing to do with your behavior or optimism on other threads. Might wanna read what I was saying as I think you're not comprehending what I said very well.  

It has to do with you being feigning supportiveness (hey! i think they're doing great things for the indiezzz!) while subtly trying to insert negativity (but it's pretty overblownz!!!) in an attempt to downplay what they're trying to do. Basically, the I-think-they're-doing-good-but-not-really approach. 

Also, never said I've read many of your posts. That would be silly. Insert words in people's mouths much? I'm speaking only from the posts of yours that I've read. And from our last debate, passive-aggressiveness with a hint of persecution complex seems to be your standard M.O.

2) No one made the claim that the majority of indies that Sony is nurturing will succeed, no one said that. At all. 

What I was asking was where exactly you are finding this whole "overstated" perception you seem to be arguing against? That's what I meant when I asked "where are you basing this?"Who's been (over) stating that the indies that Sony is nurturing will all become big AAA devs someday? Especially in this thread. This, to me, just sounds like another one of your loosely-supported generalizations about common perceptions.

3) And, like I've already said (repeatedly at that) this is what makes your comment 'completely irrelevant to the topic at hand and your logic kinda crappy. What is basing it on the overall number of indies on PC or PSN have to do with anything? 

Indies fail more than they succeed. We all know that. What Sony has done is offer support to more indies than their console competitor has. Thus, relative to their direct competitor and relative to how this would benefit Sony's strategic planning on the PS4, it is not "few". 

4) You understand that what I said (and been trying to say all night) is that people are NOT thinking that all or even most or even a decent number of the indies Sony is supporting will become AAA's someday? That people understand that indies tend to fail and only a select few of them make it? Fact is, people know it's a freakin long shot. But indies are cheap (relative to what Sony can afford) and if you bet on enough long shots, you're bound to find a winner eventually (especially with a little help from Sony). That is the same principle behind Venture Capitalism.

And (for the purposes of this thread) just one potential strategic advantage Sony could be taking advantage of with their current approach to indies.