Sony's been banging the indie drum hard for a little while now, but not everyone's willing to dance to its rhythm. There's a growing sentiment among PlayStation owners that the manufacturer's using smaller games to cover for the dearth of blockbusters in its stable, but a quick glance at its 2015 lineup reveals that that's not the case. In fact, according to Jungle Rumble: Freedom, Happiness, and Bananas developer Disco Pixel, its strategy actually stands to help the industry as much as itself.
"Sony is amazing," beamed boss Trevor Stricker. "What it's doing is certainly good for Sony, but it's also good for video games as a medium. If video games become corporate software products then the whole thing crashes, just like Atari did to us in '82."
He added: "The thing is, Sony can't make people like indies – and 'indie' itself is meaningless. Sony made a platform, and it wants that platform bursting with awesome stuff. People are attracted to compelling games, whether they are made by two people buried in snow in Boston or 200 typing in an office surrounded by palm trees in Los Angeles."
It's hard to disagree with Stricker's stance – an awesome game is awesome regardless of how many people worked on it. And while we're certainly excited for the Uncharted 4s and Batman: Arkham Knights of the world, we'd be lying if we said that we didn't have a soft spot for No Man's Sky and Axiom Verge, too. At the end of the day, aren't we all just looking for a good time?
Comments 21
"Hating" indie games is so stupid. As with all walks of life, there are good games and bad games. I like to play good games, regardless of their budget, team size, etc.
These indi games are really cool. For the most part i'd rather pay for those that interest me in that category than to dish out 64.19. I'm old school like Atari and Calico Vision so I welcome those indi games.
The idea that people hate indies has always seemed bizarre to me. They usually make the argument that "they didn't buy a £350 console to play retro looking games" like every indie game has pixelated graphics.
The worse even it's the type of people who don't like a Child of Light or Valiant Hearts and call them indies just because they're small games...
I can understand why some people prefer to only bother with 'AAA', either way there have been just as many broken AAA games as duff indie titles.
@adf86
Thats their fault, isn't it?
Did we really need 2 seperate article links for this and the actual interview with Disco Pixel?
Also, how many "let's bait the readers into another Indies rule/Indies suck argument" types of articles do we need at this site?
@Godsire- As long as there are people who bang the "I hate Indies" drum, this discussion will rage. As so many have pointed out, the idea of hating "indie" games is ludicrous. How can the publisher of a game be relevant to its gameplay?
The problem is, there is a majority of people who will always consider the price of something to be the value of it, irrespective of whether it's actually good or not. Hence why when Injustice Gods Among Us was released on PS Plus, there were few complaints. Yet, when arguably a far superior game in the form of Transistor is given away, the masses are out to wring their hands and gnash their teeth at how awful Sony are to give them such crap for the less than £4 PS Plus cost them that month. The reason? One is published independently.
It beggars belief, but many people do seem to be incapable of independent thought. It sounds crazy, but it's the only rational explanation I have!
@professorhat
That's a horrible example given that Injustice: Gods Among Us is a great fighting game. And this idiotic argument goes both ways. There's a segment of gamers who don't like indies, there's another that hate AAAs but cream themselves over any indie game that is released. I don't really give a damn what category a game falls into as long as its good but the indies are given a bit too much love and too much of a free pass on this website. That would be the only negative I could say about the reviewers here. I think they're spot on when it comes to reviewing the AAAs but when it's indie it seems to be instant win even the game isn't all that great.
@professorhat
Who are you arguing with? There is nobody here knocking indie games.
(Takes away your soapbox)
@Gamer83
I couldn't have said it better myself. I only want good games, indie or AAA. I don't care.
But yea, when I read a review of an indie game at this site, I instantly drop it down a number (at least) due to the reviewers here giving almost every indie game the usual '8' or higher.
@Godsire- We'll give a game the score we think it deserves, doesn't matter if it's an indie title or not. Sorry if you don't see it that way, but it's the truth.
@Godsire- hey, give me back my soapbox! I keep my lunch in it!
@Gamer83 There may be some who only buy indie titles and ignore AAAs, but let's be honest, they're few and far between. Yes they're just as wrong as the people who hate indies - thats clear in my "hating something just because of who published it is irrational" argument. I don't see why this is an idiotic argument given you pretty much agreed with me in your next sentence...
BTW - Injustice was a good fighting game, sure. But would you honestly say it is better than Transistor? If not, then why is it there were so few hand ringers the month it came out, but this month they're all back in their droves? This evidence doesn't really back your position of it being an idiotic argument.
@professorhat
Fighting games are probably my third favorite genre behind open-world games and sports so yes for me it is better than Transistor. However, Transistor is a great game in its own right and I was happy to see it hit PS Plus this month. I also didn't see people 'out in droves' to hate on it. In past months I've seen people hate on indies but I'll be completely honest, aside from the month that gave us Velocity 2X, another great indie game, most of the indie offerings imo have been trash and have rightly been hated on. Just like I'd say people are well within their rights to not be excited over Thief when it eventually hits PS Plus.
@Gamer83 Fair enough - I follow a few Facebook groups and Twitter discussions, and the feeling has definitely gone back in the main there to Sony going back to <expletive deleted> PS Plus offerings again i.e.indie titles. Funnily enough, many were even crying out that Thief was a PS3 offering, not PS4! It's these kinds of folk my post is directed at, but I realise now it's probably misplaced here and I'm just preaching to the converted
@professorhat
The way I look at it is a sh*t game is a sh*t game, a great game is a great game. The problem is this nobody really looks at it like that because of the labels. The sooner companies stop referring to 'indie' and 'AAA' and just go back to talking about games, the better, because it will stop the arguments. It's the same kind of stupid labeling that has always hurt games. Last gen the Wii had plenty of games for the 'core' crowd but was labeled a 'casual' console because it also had stuff like Wii Sports and Wii Fit, and people cried and complained like those games had no place in the market. It's the same thing now just with indie games but 'professional' journalists with agendas to push their likes down people's throats and corporate d-bags who can't come up with better ways to hype games are the problem.
I don't hate indie games but I don't like all those 8 bit and 16 bit retro plaformers. Why not using modern consoles instead of going back 20 years?
@Kohaku
I agree. I don't mind the occasional retro looking game, but there are way too many now.
But developers are jumping on that retro indie bandwagon because hipster douchebags like Phil Fish (just one example) hate modern, AAA gaming so they try to make a game that is "old school". At the same time, making an 8-bit game in 2015 & charging you $15 for it is ok? They are hipocrites & most weren't even alive or old enough to really remember gaming on the NES.
I am with you. Why not make a game that feels like a classic game, but with current-gen graphics? Indie developers may argue that they don't have the budget or time for that. I would then argue that maybe they go do something else for a living because others have done it. Why can't they? Either way, they won't get my money.
I agree with Sony on this one, Indies are definitely good / very important to the entire gaming industry. I really can't say anymore to it than that. I like indie games even though it may take a little bit of time before that gem pops up, it's still important.
Hmmm, so which is it? Nobody wants 8 bit retro indies, at the same time when a game like the order 1886 blows away any other game graphically people seem to not want that either, then "they" go for the revolutionary gameplay argument I personally have not seen yet on current gen, except when it comes to some indies that can afford to take risks with gameplay. The reality is people don't know what they want. The internet has ruined the simple enjoyment of games. Last gen, I wouldn't be caught dead with an independent game on my hard drive. At the same time, I never gave any a chance. Ps4 has changed my attitude for the better via ps+ giving me an opportunity to try some out. Now I love them! Games are games. Hot line Miami, apatheon, transistor, and I can't wait for axiom verge!! No mans sky looks like hours of fun living out my child hood dream of hopping in a space ship and heading towards the stars in search of mysteries to reveal and adventure, that game is something I can leave on my hdd and revisit infinitely inbetween major releases. Hell blade is another independent game! Heck! Technically I could make a game and self publish it on ps4! Amazing, IMO. I dont understand the cherry picking of what makes a game a "game" and others "not."
@Dual-shock-spok People do want "The Order:1886". I'm surprised that you haven't noticed the trend on internet muppets always putting hate on the next big title. It's been like that for awhile now. Before Indies even got attention, people on the internet were saying that there should be more indies, and now that there is nice amount of focus on indie developers, now people are saying they don't want that. It's really a dodgy crapshoot on the internet, it's always been this way though, but people seem to not pay attention to it.
The worst thing for developers right now is internet armchair gamers. you know, the people that play one game to join a community so they can be in discussions. Just enough info to be in discussions but there actions speak differently. These are the people that sound like thousands of people saying the same thing, but it's really only a dozen or so.
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