How Sony is Adapting to Change with the PlayStation 4

During Sony's Gamescom 2014 conference, the company demonstrated how it is adapting to recent industry changes with the PlayStation 4.

[Magnus701]

I've come to the conclusion that people love the idea of indie games, but don't really love indie games.

[MysticStrummer]

It's sort of like big budget movies vs indies. People are more likely to go see the big budget flicks, at least partially because of advertising. Indies, both movies and games, are more word of mouth. For my money indies are more interesting these days.

[ShinMaster]

Some people just aren't open minded about indie games.
There's always a gem here and there. But the moment a bad indie game or two comes out and is reviewed and scored low, they go "see look I told you indie games were awful" and ignore the good ones.

People complain about big companies like EA and Activision milking genres, franchises and their customers and then when a good indie game comes out, tries to do something different and has great gameplay they turn it down because it's simply low budget and doesn't push their system's graphical capabilities despite a good art direction and actually being good.

[FayZ_]

if indies are what you like then get a pc, steam have a great line of indies, no one really pays 400 for a console to play indies, ps4 is lacking AAA titles tiles this year & also has very little software improvements & features in the OS. it's great hardware for the price, but so far, that's it.

[cemelc]

"But the moment a bad indie game or two comes out and is reviewed and scored low, they go "see look I told you indie games were awful" and ignore the good ones. "

Wrong, there is like 500 indy games a year, for every good one there is 10 bad games, that is why they have that rep.

What ppl need to do is weed out trash and play the good one.

For everyone that dont believe me check greenlight on steam, youll get the problem right away.

[ninsigma]

I agree but I think that's changing. The thing that everyone loves about indies is the lack of reliance of big name publishers who are ready to screw us over at a moments notice, yet the majority of indie titles do lack the quality the big games have (obviously they don't have the funds) so then we get a load of games looking like pre PS1 era. But with the rise of games such as wild and no mans sky, I think we could see a lot more indie games that will capture a large audience. I would love for this to happen as I am pretty tired of the big name companies pulling the strings of this industry, running it into the ground with their God awful practices.

[system22]

i would agree. I mean... personally I love indie games (in general) but I'm more about playing them in between major AAA titles or when i need a break from them. honestly though, I didn't really buy a ps4 or xb1 with indie games in mind. Obviously most indie games don't push the hardware in any substantial way and thats totally fine - they don't have to do that to be a good, quality game - but at the same time thats not what I bought the new consoles for. I could have had a huge selection of them on the ps3/360. So when I kinda nag a bit on a swarm of indie games coming to the ps4 with very few AAA's in between, its not that I don't like indies, its just that theres plenty already in comparison when dealing with a such a small library of total games.

[iceman06]

But that is and always WILL be any early adapter problem..."very few AAA titles". As of right now, the PS4 has 10 and the Xbox One has 12 (including Kinect Sports). The indies are there for exactly what you are doing...using them as filler until the AAA releases come. Nobody bought their respective consoles for indies. But, without them, we'd be sitting at just 10 and 12 titles respectively...just like previous generations. It's gonna take some time, as always, for these consoles to get titles flowing. Having gone through 4 generations of gaming (where I was actually paying attention), this lack of games is par for the course.

[system22]

@ice you're absolutely right.

[isarai]

I love indies but i utterly fail to understand why people instantly hate/dislike a game when they hear it's indie. i mean who do you think is making them? it's the same damn developer that have been involved with the AAA games you play everyday. and how does not having an oppressive boss make a game worse? i just don't get it

To me "Indie" has turned into a point of interest to me, it means they are free to make what they want, something driven by passion and a dream, something not afraid to try something new, and most of all something that can prove to the AAA publishers of the world what gamers actually want and what they're capable of. We're not stupid, we don't need hand holding, we like challenge, and when it comes down to it we'd much rather have something fun and puts me in control rather than something that looks great but plays blandly and/or takes control away from you just to make something look cool for that killer E3 presentation.

[DigitalRaptor]

Exactly.

I reckon it's cause people prefer the "ZOMG AAA graphics" over the most creative and interesting and beautiful concepts the industry has to offer. I get that people invested in new hardware and want graphical showcases for that (I'm all for that and PS4 does have that), but tell me that you see tons of PC gamers complaining that they invested in a super expensive rig and that about 70% of the Steam catalog is indie games. You don't.

The only ones complaining about the prevalence of indie games are those that don't like diversity in a platform's lineup, those that are only playing the indie games that they personally think are not worth a damn, or the Xbox fanboys who think that one of the core strengths of a console is worth laughing about, even though Microsoft is intending to support the Xbone with just as many indies, if they can, which makes those guys hypocrites.

I look at the first wave of indie titles on PS4 like Resogun, Mercenary Kings and Octodad. Then I look at the second wave of games coming out in 2015 like RiME, WiLD, No Man's Sky, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and SOMA, and these are LEAPS above the indie games that everybody is mocking, yet they are still mocked for no good reason. These are games that are undeniably putting many AAA games to shame with both creativity and scale. No indie games of their scale have really made it to consoles, and people are mocking indie devs for growing and becoming more ambitious, and the company that is helping make that happen.

I can't take anybody seriously that wants to mock that lineup of games, just because these development teams have indie status.

[isarai]

+1 vote bubble bro

[kingdom18]

I don't know why so many people hate indies, they are nice little games, like small appetizers that we get before the big main course AAA games. If we didn't have any indies or if they weren't mentioned things would look barren, Sony and MS would have to resort to showing more AAA games that may not be close to release just to have more things to show to keep people interested.

[DigitalRaptor]

It's not even just one or the other anymore.

I'm always seeing people generalise indie game "size", but that is beginning to blur when you see games like No Man's Sky, WiLD, RiME, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, SOMA, Dreamfall Chapters, Shadow of the Beast, The Witness, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Life is Strange etc.

Not all indies are little, piecemeal experiences and you'll be seeing that all throughout next year.

[MasterCornholio]

People only hate indies when they are exclusive to a platform.

That's what I've been seeing. The multiplats dont get any hate but games like Rime and Wild do.