Earlier today it was noted that a semi-popular, free-to-play shooter would be coming to the PlayStation 4. It's being further touted by Sony that not only will free-to-play PC titles be arriving on the PS4, but a whole bunch of indie games will be available as well as the company is lifting all the procedural steps to get games designed, developed and published on the PlayStation 4.
Following news of Blacklight Retribution coming to Sony's upcoming next-generation console, it was announced that the cooperative dinosaur FPS Primal Carnage would also be arriving for the PS4. But that's not even the good news. Gamasutra has an interview with head of developer relations at Sony Computer Entertainment, Adam Boyes, who stated in the very interesting interview that...
We've just changed our whole concept submission process. It used to be two stages, and all this feedback, and now it's just one, and it's optional feedback, so there's no greenlighting process, no voting, no weird stuff.
I hope that wasn't a dig at Valve's Greenlight? Still, Sony removing the layers of approval makes things a heck of a lot easier for the entry of design for developers of any and all sizes. As many gamers may have noted during the seventh generation of console development, there were no mid-tier or mid-budget games at all: it was either indie titles or AAA titles with no room or financial tunneling through the certification or concept approval process to afford for anything in between. It was one or the other.
Sony has already guaranteed that they are opening the doors for games between $0.99 and $60, with $60 being the cap for AAA games to keep the barrier of entry for consumers reasonable.
Boyes went on to say that...
What I did, getting on board, went across the world and listened to feedback -- and said, "What are the biggest complaints, and how do we knock this out?" So that changed, and we continue to work every week on "what else are they complaining about?"So if it's, hey, these guys are developing content for Vita, and we like the team, so we send them Vita kits as loaners for free. Or waiving patch fees for independent developers, if they need that support, then we're totally behind it.
Previously Tim Schafer had noted that patch fees could extend to and beyond $40,000 per patch, making it next to nigh impossible for smaller studios to patch their game frequently or add new content on a regular basis.
Boyes hopes that by opening up the approval and certification process to make it easier for developers, perhaps they can leverage the PS4 to be as accommodating to developers and gamers as much as Valve has opened up Steam to be both consumer-friendly and developer-friendly.
More games are expected to be announced for the PlayStation 4 leading up to and beyond E3 as Sony preps the console for a holiday 2013 launch.
