The Next-Gen Consoles Are The Most Indie Friendly Yet, But It Could Be Too Little Too Late

Indie Statik writes: "It’s all very positive to see this drastic change in policies from these companies and the embracing of developers in order to allow them to blossom using resources, promotions and technology that was previously locked away from them. But these measures are already outdated and other consoles are emerging and setting the new pace. It could be that these efforts are too little, too late."

[DOMination-]

The Indie scene is getting ever more important, as if anything is where we are seeing the most originality from this great industry. Some indie devs really made a name for themselves this gen, and it seems like the PS4 at least is going to give them a great platform. IMO, it's never been a more exciting time to be an independent developer.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

To bad MS is killing XNA next year.

[3-4-5]

Between the Wii U , PS4, & Xbox 720 there will be enough good options for indie gamers.

There are some gems on XBL but I'm sick of seeing these moving color shapes games that look like they took 4 days to make.

[killalot100]

@darkride66 Thanks for the insight. Thats probably why most indie games start off on pc and when they make it big their they come to consoles. 200k to make Braid! Why do you need that much money.

[dcbronco]

I believe they are going to replace XNA. The huge change in architecture is the reason I believe they dropped it. I think the replacement will be geared toward using the GPU more as a compute component.

[Dark_Overlord]

I'm sure the guy at the conference (Can't remember his name) mentioned something about tools to make porting from PC easier?

This would mean it could potentially cost very little to port the game to the PS3, meaning the devs have a much bigger crowd to sell too :)

[fluffydelusions]

Yeah but there is a problem with getting games to say PS3/360 by indies...the cost. It's quite expensive to get your game into their online store and also maintain it there. PC is very simple in this regard and obviously less cost involved. This is why PC indie scene will always be better than that of console. Not saying console does not have some good indie games, I'm just talking in terms of sheer volume.

[Minato-Namikaze]

ps4 has self publishing though. They can set the price to whatever. It may be something that really catches on.

[fluffydelusions]

I'm not talking about how much they can charge. I'm talking about the fees the indie developers have to pay to Sony/MS.

[Anon1974]

As an developer myself, we aren't even considering publishing on the consoles. The time and expense of developing and pushing hardware for the current gen is just too great. We're a business and if we're not generating revenue, we aren't paying our bills. I don't know how any indie, without some sort of miracle grant, kickstarter success or angel investor could even consider putting games on consoles without bankrupting himself and leaving his family homeless.

You hear of indie success stories and they're developers who lock themselves away for months and obsess about their products. In the real world, there's bills to pay and mouths to feed. To be in a position where you can work on a game full time for the one/two years needed to see it through without being paid in the meantime, that's a rarity.

One day we'd like to have the resources to make games on the consoles, and we've got more than a few ideas, but the reality is that's not going to happen until we achieve some level of success on other platforms in order to finance such a project, and even then we'd probably be risking everything. In the meantime, we're going to continue making games that won't put us out on the street if we fail and hope for an opportunity to present itself. Consoles just aren't on our radar. If others want to develop for the consoles, I wish them the best of luck but as a guy running a business, that's not a chance I'm willing to take at this point in time with my family's future. You look at a guy like Braid's creator - he put $200,000 of his own money into Braid and had a hit and so he can keep going with The Witness. What average indie can drop $200k on a project in the hope it goes big?

[PopRocks359]

It's not too late at all. Indie gaming is everywhere. It's just a matter of breaking their worlds into the attention of the general public.

[Link079]

The WiiU owns in being Indie friendly just look at the masses of amazing eshop games and more on the way 90's arcade racer anyone.

[Bahpomet---]

wtf

[MasterCornholio]

Example of a PS4 Indie game.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

And the PS4 is great for indies as well.

;) everyone wins.

[Ron_Danger]

Next gen is DOOOOOOMED!!

I might just have to switch to playing ball-and-a-cup.

[Rainstorm81]

Mexicos favorite toy for over 350 years....Lol

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[kingmushroom]

chill ball in the cup fanboys ...every one know its all about 2 balls in the cup

[Seraphemz]

WTF? Why would it be too late? Cause you need to write something for hits?? Stupid article.

[Jek_Porkins]

I know I'll get hate for this, but I didn't download a single indie game this generation. I think if in the future they are allowed to implement Trophy's and Achievements it will help get more people interested. I just didn't see anything that really interested me.

[papashango]

damn really?

you missed out.

[Conzul]

Indeed.
Off the top of my head, Limbo and Journey deserve a playthrough by everyone - but there's more merit to be had elsewhere too.

[Hufandpuf]

Indie games of late have usually been low spec demanding games: Fez, Journey, Hotline Miami etc.

I would like to see how games like that translate to the next-gen because many gamers are going to be looking for that shiny new game with all the bells and whistles on the PS4, while many indie developers were just getting a foothold in current gen systems.

[mandf]

@ Hufandpuf

How would you view Flower?

[Hufandpuf]

I haven't played it but from what I've seen it doesn't look like it takes much to run (which is my point). A majority of gamers will want that graphical and technical push when they first get their next gen console, and be honest: Flower isn't the type of game to get you excited for next-gen gaming.

[mandf]

I would highly recommend it to you. The gameplay is breathtaking. Not to mention one of the best uses of subliminal messages I have ever seen. Don't let the pretense of the game throw you off. The game is technically intense. you have to see and feel it to understand.

[SlyFamous02]

It will never be too little too late for indie games.

[isarai]

the Indie scene is blowing up more than ever, and with access to free engines like Unity and UDK this is actually just in time

[younglj01]

Wow.....

[smashcrashbash]

Too late for what? Are they going somewhere? Do indie developers no longer what money or recognition anymore? What on earth are you talking about?