“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.
“April was an indie-heavy month and it was hard to pick the best games but here we go! Hope you have fun and see something you like.” - A.J. Maciejewski from Video Chums.
“Another month has passed us by and during it, many incredible indie games released so let's celebrate the 12 best from March 2024.” - A.J. Maciejewski from Video Chums.
“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.
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.