Media Molecule wants Dreams games published "to other devices and beyond"

At the View Conference, the studio's co-founder and art director Kareen Ettouney discussed the need for Dreams to be a creative platform outside the confines of PlayStation.
Media Molecule's plans for Dreams extend to giving users full commercial ownership of their creations, and allowing them to publish their games on other platforms.

[Abnor_Mal]

Some time ago I said that Sony should let this game go multiplatform after some exclusivity time of a few years. The disagrees hit me like a ton of bricks, now here we are seeing the developers saying they would like to reach different platforms and devices for created content.

My arguement then and still is to this day, if MS can get Minecraft onto other platforms then why should Sony keep such a creative title to only the PlayStation ecosystem. Only one person agreed with me in a private message saying they also had the same thought.

Hopefully this becomes a franchise that spans consoles and we all get to see creations from the community from games to movies to music and whatever else creative minds can conceive.

[Wasabi]

@Abnor

I agree with you buddy.

I dislike the fact that other gamers are not able to enjoy the same games I can, simply because of their choice of platform.

[Traecy]

One will have to get over that knowing having exclusives is what differentiate consoles/ platforms & a company's business decision.

[Wasabi]

@Traecy

Thanks for your input.

[Tech5]

"Media Molecule's plans for Dreams extend to giving users full commercial ownership of their creations, and allowing them to publish their games on other platforms."

most interesting news yet. just as long as creators are able to receive commercial ownership.
and they can also publish on any platform they choose.

Just speaking for myself here, which I'm very fond of the existing tools on pc, which can achieve anything your imagination can put together and are not limited to a design. they also have imminence amount of support and can also make platform exclusives too.

but this is good news for creators of Dreams, that creators can be casual as well as serous.
one of the biggest issues for project spark was that creators were too serous, and that the tools did not accommodate all of their ambitions. and so they migrated to existing tools such as Unity, UE4, and Cryengine.

[crazyCoconuts]

I think I agreed too. Check the tape 😉

[Christopher]

We put our top man on it.

http://giphygifs.s3.amazona...

[Abnor_Mal]

Lol okay I checked the tape and you did. Here is what you said:

"I think they should keep the creation part of the app as exclusive to PS and make the creations portable with maybe some kind of licencing fee similar to game engines like Unity and Unreal. I think that's best of both worlds. If they really want to they could refuse to support certain consoles that are competitors, but I think they should open it up."

AGREE 1DISAGREE 1

😁

[Abnor_Mal]

@Christopher really thought you would have used a Raider of the Lost Ark gif, or at the very least the Family Guy reference.

[crazyCoconuts]

Thanks for checking. I probably couldn't have found that lol. I hope MM is successful. To spend so much time and energy on something, it would be disappointing to not see it get a big userbase

[UltraNova]

As much as this makes sense, it doesn't to the company who paid to have this IP made and that's what matters in the end, business is business.

[Wasabi]

@Ultra

I see what you are saying and you make a good point, but think how many more gamers Dreams could reach if it was opened up to more platforms.

Having said this, I agree. The problem for Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft is that keeping a game exclusive attracts gamers to their particular brand, so I understand why they choose not to.

[Abnor_Mal]

Time will tell, Sony already went on record saying that they would like their multiplayer games reach a wider audience. Which could mean more games going to PC and or other consoles.

Look at The Last of Us2 and the decision the ship the MP seperate from the main campaign. The likely reason for doing so is because they are planning on expanding and fleshing out the MP and then release it possibly on PS Now day and date. Dreams could also be a game that would sell well on PC. Hell it could even become a gaas type of game, no one knows for sure, but the option should be considered. There's whispers of a Killzone Online, its unknown if it is real or just a rumor but Sony did tweet out a question recently that listed that "title".

I do not understand why you would think the company who paid to have this IP made would leave money on the table when they know they have a very lucrative product and are already talking about a ten year plan for it.

[UltraNova]

Abnor,

What's there to understand, exclusives are Sony's bread and butter...soon everyone will double down on exclusives so they can differentiate their services (subs) from their competition.

[Abnor_Mal]

Okay I get what you are saying, but I was not talking about all of Sonys exclusives becoming multiplatform. No even close, and I agree with you ninty nine percent that exclusives differentiate consoles from each other and help sales, all true.

I am just talking about this one particular game being multiplatform because it has the potential to be as large if not larger than Minecraft if allowed beyond PlatStation. This not not really a game but a tool, an application to he used to build other content. It is a content creator if you will, for content creators.

Anyway I do agree with you that exclusives are important to consoles. It is just my opinion this tool can make PlayStation more money if used by everyone, which could be used to strengthen other first party studios as a form of steady income.

[rainslacker]

It means more people buy the software to make these games.

OTOH, I still think that Sony should make the design tools available on systems other than the console, because that opens up a lot of possibilities for hobbyists, and easier interaction between multiple creators allowing for bigger designs, higher quality, and more timely releases. I also think that releasing design tools for free, would be a huge boon to getting people on board. Have the paid version so you can play non-commercial creations.

I wouldn't doubt though that the game follows a F2P model somewhere down the line, and maybe allow for a storefront where Sony makes money off sold content through the store, where they split the revenue with content creators.

Lots of possibilities, and if Sony plays their cards right, they have something that could become one of the most influential creation systems in the industry, because it is a single tool, which basically allows for everything to be done in one place.

[VariantAEC]

@UltraNova
This is already happening everywhere not just in gaming. See exclusive programs depending on TV services satellite and cable, online services like Hulu, Apple TV and Netflix and many more but this also happens across music streaming services too.
Exclusively is nothing new to any one anywhere regardless of what you do or make.

[sprinterboy]

These games thrive on multiplatform, it's a no brainer it would be more successful on all platforms and not just one.
Especially a creative game.

[Abnor_Mal]

Exactly and it was 266 days ago when you PM'ed in agreement. Glad to see we still see that the game would reach the stars in popularity if on multiple platforms. It would become Sonys biggest property and would make money by the truck loads. Every artist, musician, budding director and whoever else (obviously I'm not one of the talented I speak of) in the gaming industry and beyond would be flocking to this application.

[Lionsguard]

Allowing Dreams for PC would be absolutely HUGE. Then again, I do see how it would be very problematic. Considering they won't know how to gauge the thermo since very PC is different, user experience would vary. I would like to see Dreams ported to Xbox, Dreams is a game that is definitely helped by "the more the merrier".

Just letting users port their creations to other platforms however is a good idea but they'd have to be the creme of the crop. There are a few games that I've played that would be pretty awesome to play on the Switch.

[rainslacker]

The games themselves play within the runtime environment of the content creator itself. There are limits on what's allowed within the runtime environment, and that limit would require a minimum level of hardware on PC, like all games do. There's no hardware specific implementation, and likely a PC version would include a higher level implementation for tasks that may have hardware level implementation on consoles.

What you wouldn't see is more options to improve or reduce graphics on a game by game level like you do in most PC games, but there could potentially be some system level stuff which allows for changes to graphics. What is lost is that PC has more potential for causing disruption to the game itself when there are those times when the system puts the game on hold for other tasks. That's just a thing with how PC's and OS's operate, but it's not exceptionally common anymore in a properly powered PC.

[Christopher]

This game on PC, with cross-platform content availability, would only serve to immensely support everyone everywhere. On other consoles as well, but PC would see the greatest benefit overall.

[UltraNova]

That's logical, but knowing Sony's policy on exclusives, their entire gaming business model and the massive success it apparently brought them, would they deviate from that (risk) just for one title?

[Christopher]

I think with enough support they might. But, not at all likely otherwise.

[Traecy]

That would definitely be a Sony decision knowing Sony owns MM. If so it would more likely be on PC.

[Blu3_Berry]

I really do think this game in particular should be multiplatform because it's such a niche title and relies on the community. If the community dies out on the playstation then it's pretty much dead. It will benefit from having a larger community, especially the PC market. If it had cross-play support, then I think the game will do well.

[Abnor_Mal]

Can you imagine if someone was to make a short film with an interesting premise and story. Then Hollywood comes around and gets in contact with Sony, Media Molecule and the creator of the short film to come to an agreement for an adaptation into a feature film. That would be incredible for anyone with "dreams" of having a future in movies and or animation at Disney and Pixar, or Dreamworks.

Possibly being hired by other development houses within the gaming industry either for an indie studio or AA/AAA studios.

[AK91]

I hope one of those platforms isn't mobile.

[P_Bomb]

I didn’t read it as Dreams going multiplatform. Methinks it’s more about retaining ownership over what you create and the possibility of exporting it to use elsewhere.

Say I create some cool music. The goal is to retain the license and be able to export and publish elsewhere. It doesn’t automatically become property of Sony or locked to the console/app. I quote...

“People in the Dreams community have already been using it to make graphic design, album covers and stuff like that. Using it for their portfolios and showreels.”

“..and then everything you make in Dreams is yours to use commercially outside of Dreams.”