We apologise for continually bleating on about it, but Sony has changed. There’s a marked adjustment in attitude exuding the company that was once deemed anachronistic and arrogant, and that bodes well for the PlayStation 4 as last week’s Games Developers Conference proved. The firm’s positive treatment of indie studios evidences just how far it’s come since the PlayStation 3’s turbulent launch, and Velocity developer FuturLab believes that it’s down to a reignited passion running throughout the firm.
“It could be said that Sony has a killer strategy to build consumer interest, community support, and general good PR, which is entirely true, but it's not a strategy in the calculated sense,” the company wrote on its Facebook page. “The people behind the push on PlayStation Vita and PS4 are passionate people who genuinely understand what a good game is, and they've had their passions stoked to blast furnace temperature by the fibreless crap that is shovelled on iOS.”
Sony’s proved over the past couple of months that it’s willing to bend over backwards to support the development community committed to producing content for its platforms, revealing that it's cutting down its approval process and willing to loan development kits to studios with a good enough pitch. And, unsurprisingly, it’s not just FuturLab who’s singing the organisation’s praises at the moment.
“It's been absolutely wonderful working with Sony,” said Dragon Fantasy creator Adam Rippon in an interview with Destructoid. “Everything that we need they make it happen, and I can't stress enough that Sony is fantastic. I know I sound like I'm just shilling; they're not paying me to say this. Seriously, it's awesome.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Rippon explained that he never expected his role-playing game homage to be picked up by such a big company. "At PAX East last year, I was a, believe it was, a ‘super indie guy’ over on the side of the hall and I was showing a very, very early version of [Dragon Fantasy: Book II],” he said. “Sony was sniffing around and they got wind that we were making a pretty cool RPG in the old-school style and they said, 'hey, you guys should talk to us.'”
Rippon figured that would be the end of it, but he was contacted a week later with the news that Sony wanted to sign the title to its popular Pub Fund initiative, which sees the platform holder contribute towards development costs in return for a small window of exclusivity.
“With Dragon Fantasy we've been talking to other people about things for years, and it was hard to even get a foot into the door,” he added. “There's another company we had been trying to talk to, [but that] just never went anywhere. They like to send rejection letters that say absolutely nothing. So yeah, I love Sony. I want to have their video game babies.”
Let’s just hope that that furnace remains stoked.
[source facebook.com, via destructoid.com]
Comments 10
This is the year when Sony returns to the top. The ps3 will finally surpass the crapbox in the US, PS Vita will fulfill its promise and the PS4 will just kick ass.
I can't wait for E3.
@davitpr the PS3 has already surpassed the 360 worldwide, it has for the last few years
also i'm not touching the next xbox not after the trouble i have had with the 360 and the fact that it looks like you will need to constantly connected to the internet to be able to play any game
usually i like to get all the consoles so i never miss out on any games (even though i still buy all my multiplats on PlayStation) but i'm not this time just the PS4 and WiiU for me i think
"I want to have their video game babies". Excuse me while I reattach my sides.
@Majin-Naruto Yes you are right, that's why I said "in the US"
@davitpr thing is i don't think it ever will for the same reason the 360 will never overtake the PS3 in Japan, people like to stay in their own borders so to speak 9 times out of 10 they would rather buy something home grown rather than something imported it's just the way humans are
and i'm pretty sure if we here in the UK had a major console that was made here it would be the dominant one here
PS3 won't top the 360 in the U.S. but I think in the next gen it's possible Sony could retake this market. It's not like Japan, North Americans will go for what's cheapest, what's marketed the best, MS received much better press and was much better at advertising its games, particularly in the early going, it also had a system that at the start was $200 cheaper than the PS3 and for a long while got better versions of multiplat games. Right now as we prepare for the next gen, it's the opposite of 2006, Sony is generating a lot of positive press, people are excited about the PS4, really the only thing that I could see slowing it down is price, which will still don't know about but I don't see Sony charging much more than the competition. MS on the other hand has had nothing but poor press and stuff like the recent debacle with that Adam Orth idiot doesn't make things better. As it currently stands, Sony has all the momentum. It'll take Japan, it'll take Europe, the only place where it will be close is North America but Sony has dominated competitors in this market before, it's not out of the question it could happen again.
well do hope that sony will have a successful ps4 so they can fully concentrate on the vita...its a great portable that should be doing a whole lot better
He signed up with indiePub Fund? ;_; ...we'll never see him again...cough-Storm-cough, cough...
@Gamer83 I think it will just because the PS3 will still be selling years after the 360 gets discontinued. And as far as the ps3 ouselling the Xbox this year I really see it happening once it gets a price cut.
@Majin-Naruto , then you can say the same thing about the Ps3 and Xbox 360. Don't forget the generation before the PS2 completely out sold the Xbox. The way the game is played the title isn't garunteed to the previous victor. Every cycle is a fresh start and PS4 is already taking the lead by winning over the hearts of fans and developers not just overseas but in the US too.
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