Sony’s Boyes On Evolving The Company’s Approach To Indie Devs
Posted by Ben on September 7th, 2012 | 2 Comments | Tags: Adam Boyes , Independent Developers
Adam Boyes has been a very busy man since his appointment around 4 months ago. Speaking to Gamasutra, SCEA’s Vice President of Publisher and Developer Relations spoke briefly on the console manufacturer’s approach to independent developers, and how Sony is planning on evolving that approach in the months and years to come.
“We’re always looking for things that people wouldn’t be able to do normally. Like, really art-house stuff,” Boyes said to the website. “We really want to feature them, and have an artful platform for people to put content out on.” And indeed, “If its awesome, that’s sort of the first qualifier,” which seems an acceptable approach to choosing content to put on PSN via first party initiatives such as the Pub Fund.
Speaking on the Pub Fund, Boyes was keen to emphasise how the fund is something more akin to an incentive rather than a publishing deal. “So, we find a developer, we find a project, they pitch it to us, we say, ‘Hey, we like it.’ And then we pay them upon completion, advanced against the royalties.” Although the amount paid upon completion can go up to $500’000, the actual amount can vary significantly. Indeed, Sony takes a rather hands off approach with the Pub Fund, with no deadlines set by the publisher, and no interference for better or worse to speak of. They will, however, work with their developers worldwide to make sure they get things they need, such as dev kits.
However, the most exciting part of this interview came at the very end. Boyes told Gamasutra that “I think you guys will see a lot of really exciting announcements over the coming six months about different evolving policies that make things easier for our partners. Self-publishing was step one. Then waiving patch fees for our Pub Fund partners.” So, if Sony supports your game with the Pub Fund, it appears that you’ll receive what might arguably be on of the biggest benefits of the Pub Fund, especially for an independent developer without the cash most major publishers have lying around. The future looks bright for Sony and indies.