“Microsoft treats independent developers very badly,” said Jonathon Blow, creator of the breakout indie success Braid. Blow appeared at Sony’s recent PlayStation 4 announcement event to show his new game The Witness. He said in an email that Microsoft’s stance on relations with independent developers is to “put you through as much pain as you will endure in order to extract whatever [they] feel like this week.”
Sony appears to be seizing on Microsoft’s bad reputation among indie developers as an opportunity to lure new games onto its platforms and establish the PlayStation Network as the new place to be for unique independent games. It’s becoming the anti-Microsoft, something it seemed to be stressing in its PlayStation 4 announcement. Provinciano said that working with Sony felt like a “coffee shop chat” as opposed to the “intimidating corporate vibe” of Xbox.
“February is always a short month but it sure didn't feel like it with all of the top-quality indies that released during it. Let's dive right in!” - A.J. Maciejewski from Video Chums.
“It's a new year and with that comes a fresh batch of indies so here are the very best of 2024 so far. I hope you enjoy this look back. 😊” - A.J. Maciejewski from Video Chums.
“I thought there have been loads of great indies this year then bam! September hit with an indielanche so let's hand out some awards.” - A.J. Maciejewski from Video Chums.
and if the recent rumors are true, so will gamers.
looks like a perfect storm is coming together for the PS4:
* making easy to develop for architecture
* attracting indy developers.
* fast and simple user experience.
* the competitors making mistakes.
Sony is actively pursuing these developers. For the last 5 years, XBLA has had the best selection of indie games between the three consoles. But slowly, Sony has continued to increase indie support for the PS3, Vita, and now the PS4, while the indie support for the Xbox brand has steadily decreased (or simply gone multiplatform).
Every time there's a "360 has no exclusives!" article, I see at least one person bring up the (valid) argument of "hey! Don't ignore XBLA. It's full of awesome games". Well, now even that seems to be fading away...
When the 720 is announced and devs are allowed to talk about it, expect the PS4 to be an afterthought just like this gen. Sony is trying to get as much positive attention while they are the only ones who can talk.