PlayStation’s enjoying one of the most prolific periods in its history. The start to 2017 has seen the release of several high-profile first-party games, like Gravity Rush 2 and Horizon: Zero Dawn. But being a glass half-empty kinda guy, I feel it could have been even better: what the heck happened with What Remains of Edith Finch and RiME?
For those of you who don’t know, both of these titles were originally scheduled to be published by Sony, and both got dropped. Giant Sparrow’s successor to The Unfinished Swan was published by Annapurna Interactive (which I’ll get to in a minute), while Tequila Works’ colourful puzzle platformer was promoted by Grey Box – a company I’d honestly never heard of until a few months ago.
Both of these games are, for the record, excellent. What Remains of Edith Finch is probably my favourite release of the year thus far, though my list’s changing all of the time. And as for RiME – wow! My expectations were really low before I started that, and it completely blew me away – it’ll certainly be in the running come Game of the Year.
But there’s a much bigger story at play here that goes beyond these two titles. Sony has a long history of publishing interesting, unusual games from independent studios; Journey is the most famous of them all, but there’s also been stuff like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Murasaki Baby, Resogun, and Bound.
And yet they seem to be coming to an end. Housemarque’s next title, Nex Machina, is not a collaboration with Sony XDev Europe – it’s an independently published shooter for PS4 and PC. With Matterfall still apparently on the way, this may just be an anomaly – perhaps the studio wanted to keep that one in-house. But we have more examples.
At PlayStation Experience a few years back, Sony Santa Monica revealed a couple of externally developed games: The Modern Taxi Company and Wattam. Neither of these titles appear to be associated with Sony anymore – they’ve both fallen off the radar hard. Meanwhile, the excellent Edith Finch was – as mentioned – adopted by Annapurna Interactive.
But here’s the interesting thing: Annapurna Interactive consists of several ex-Sony Santa Monica employees. Deborah Mars (who was once a key figure in the studio’s external projects) and Nathan Gary (who dreamed up the bloody share button for goodness sake) are both in charge of the publisher; Hector Sanchez and Jeff Legaspi are also former Sony and near the top of the chain.
And this suggests to me that, unless there are some big announcements at E3 2017 next month, this is all very much a change in tact from the platform holder. But why? The company has had so much success with these outlandish indie collaborations, it’s baffling to me why it would cut them out of its portfolio – especially when they come out as good as Edith Finch and RiME.
Of course, both of those games have released on the PS4 anyway so it’s not like the console is missing out on them, and maybe the platform holder feels it doesn’t need to be involved in their creation anymore seeing as it’s the market leader. But would Journey have been approved anywhere else? Datura? Sound Shapes?
Nathan Drake and Kratos may be the bread winners for PlayStation, but it’s the bizarre experimental stuff that’s defined it over the past decade or so. If this trend continues then the manufacturer’s portfolio is going to be worse for it, and without Sony putting money behind bizarre pitches, who knows how many Journeys may never get made.
Are you worried by this current trend in Sony's output? Do you think it's beginning to exit the indie publishing space, or is this all just a big coincidence? Ditch the Game of the Year in the comments section below.
Comments 57
Im sorry but this reads like someone is mad at lost exclusives. But hey i'll enjoy playing Rime on my Xbox 1
@Gamer247 Translation: "I'm sorry but I didn't read the article properly."
I honestly don't get it either, I've been saying for years that Sony should sign up Housemarque. The way it's going I can see Matterfall and WilD no longer been exclusive.
Great games, but also niche games with low overall sales is my bet. They all end up being PS+games as well. Probably not enough return on investment, and with rime, it seemed for a time to have quite a bit of problems in development.
I'm also going to take the low road on this one and suggest the world is better off with less journeys
@RedMageLanakyn You MONSTER
@ShogunRok I jest! Always fun to rile you guys up though
@adf86 Would that mean Sony XDev Europe would get closed? Because what's the point in that studio if they're not going to work with external devs anymore?
I dont see it as a major issue personally, although I can understand what @get2sammyb is getting at. The idea of exclusivity is nice and it may matter to quite a few, but I think when it comes to smaller devs, exclusivity should be more a stepping stone.
The initial tie-in with a Sony or MS is a good way for a smaller dev to get its feet under the table, see Giant Sparrow with the Unfinished Swan.
If anything, I think its great they now have the capacity to go it alone with Edith Finch and you can argue that its great that Sony have supported them initially so that they (Giant Sparrow) can "spread its wings" so to speak (poor pun, sorry!)
Hopefully there is more to come and we cannot have enough good developers in my book.
@dellyrascal Agree. Indie devs need a first push to start their projects, but once they took a few steps, it's a lot better for them if they can keep their indie status; at least if the goal is to create "experimental" games, so to speak. However, Sony dropped them before their projects were released and a new publisher worked with them - what shows that they still needed someone to back them up...
Luckily for us, there are interested publishers and, as long as they exist, indies will keep coming. Maybe that's the reason why Sony dropped all these indie projects, maybe it's all about $$$; either way, I hope publishers keep on working with indies, who knows what experiences may come out of them? =)
@get2sammyb Well they have supposed to have opened up a VR centric studio at Sony Liverpool's old place and Xdev helped on Wipeout. I also wonder whether if this VR game SSM are working on meant less resources for the indie games.
But from a business and PlayStation fan pov it's important to keep these devs sweet because you never when you'll want an exclusive out of them.
Ever worked at 2 different companies using your same skills? Strangely if you focus on say e.g. account or delivery. Both companies will have different ways of doing these things. Maybe these companies are still affiliated with Sony but enjoying/trying out different under different rules? It keeps creative juices fresh and freedom flows! It also keeps competition high and possibly less stagnation...
Why invest heavily in some 'independent' game that's still going to sell on your system but never going to sell consoles like an Uncharted or God of War, Not going to sell consoles like a 3rd Party partnership like CoD or Destiny have so not going to get the same returns for that investment.
It also seems that people may opt to wait for these on IGC - especially if they are 'exclusive' to the console or at least wait for the inevitable sale.
I can't see Sony using its 'exclusive' indies in a montage the same way as they show their AAA games as a reason to buy into the Playstation so what do Sony really get out of it? Yes a 'niche' segment of PS gamers may be happy to see these games exclusively on their console but I bet the majority are less bothered - especially if they can play them anyway. Maybe it means Sony can invest in more 1st Party games and exclusive content.
"but it’s the bizarre experimental stuff that’s defined it over the past decade or so"
Yeah and ultimately the reason I jumped ship from MS to Sony.
I hope they do continue publishing these types of games and Rime and Finch are not the start of a new trend. These two games would have made great exclusives. Bit weird really. Is it anything to do with Ishmail leaving (was that the indie guys name can't remember? lol)
@dellyrascal It's not just a matter of exclusivity, though, as @Gamer247 misinterpreted. It's about the fact that interesting pitches, ideas, and prototypes may actually never be realised without investment from an open-minded publisher like Sony.
You can't miss what you never had, I suppose — but the industry losing a major publisher of these kinds of projects is a concern.
@BAMozzy "Why invest heavily in some 'independent' game that's still going to sell on your system but never going to sell consoles like an Uncharted or God of War, Not going to sell consoles like a 3rd Party partnership like CoD or Destiny have so not going to get the same returns for that investment."
Well, this is the concern for me. I think it's massively important to have portfolio diversity, and Sony has traditionally been the best in the business about it.
Stuff like Dreams and The Last Guardian won't move consoles, but they're what define PlayStation for me. And the Journeys, Unfinished Swans, and Bounds have been Sony's bread and butter for so long that I don't want to see them go away.
Sony probably didn't want to bother publishing a 2 hour walking experience and Rime seems like they may have just rubbed Sony the wrong way.
As long as someone else publishes them, I am fine. They never cared about Bayo 2 either.
@RedMageLanakyn has a point. How many times do you read comments in the reviews for an indie game that say "Looks interesting but I will wait until it hits Plus/goes on sale"? If gamers wont risk $15 then Sony wont risk millions just to support indies and prove themselves as open minded.
Sony will still have unique game's on the PlayStation. But after No Man's Sky i think there will be more careful in the future, and rightfully so.
@get2sammyb I read it, but I didn't see your reasons. So what do you think happened? Is it a trend or just some unrelated circumstances? Maybe since they gave up on the Vita and handhelds they don't need any indies since people seemed to like them there and AAA on home consoles. jk
What the person above me said about NMS makes sense, but that was a huge $60 retail undertaking, not quite the same as a $15 digital. Could be just about the money, accountants said no. Could be a change of direction, which is what you seem most worried about. Could it be Sony thinks Kickstarter and other crowd funding will pick up the slack so they don't have to get involved?
I really don't have an answer, guess this morning burned me out, I was just curious what you think the reason was, again I did read it, but didn't see one, just your concern about the outcome, not the cause.
@sinalefa ""Looks interesting but I will wait until it hits Plus/goes on sale"?"
You were thinking of me when you wrote that, admit it.
At this stage of ps4 life I think sony want sure fire hit that move console rather than interesting indie titles, what remains of edith finch and rime is a good game but it's not going to move console (and the game still will be on ps4). Big exclusive like spiderman, horizon, and god of war will, also somehing like cod exclusive dlc, destiny dlc and red dead 2 dlc. The exception is first party games, sony still make unique games like the last guardian, gravity rush 2 and dream.
@get2sammyb I really don't see games like Last Guardian, Dreams or the plethora of Japanese games drying up - the Gravity Rush, Persona, Nier, Nioh games. Journey is hardly the bread and butter of Sony and whilst there are a few 'gems' amongst them, the 'Indie' market is relatively 'flooded' now with games that could easily fulfil that kooky and diverse experience. Its not like these games are not coming to Playstation, just not 'exclusively'.
Point I was making is that games like Rime, What becomes of Edith Finch? even games like Everybody's gone to the Rapture which was an exclusive is not a console seller, not a reason alone to buy a console and if these games are coming to PS anyway, then use that money on projects that will. Its not detracting from diversity at all as these projects are still playable on Sony's console.
Sony still offer a diverse range of games that will sell Playstation to gamers. These games will also be the ones that people remember and invest in future Playstation consoles later in life - the prospect of games like Horizon, Days Gone, Last of Us, God of War, Bloodbourne as well as all the very Japanese games like Last Guardian, Gravity Rush, Persona etc where as games like Everyone's gone to the Rapture will hardly be remembered as a PS exclusive and lost amongst the plethora of other indie games. Sony aren't reducing the diversity because these games are still on the Platform and hardly increasing it as we have a number of 'similar' alternatives too. It makes sense to save the budget and invest in things that can see a return. Its not like Sony are not investing in any indies either but these two really aren't that diverse. Gamespot were quite scathing over Rime and its Artstyle isn't 'unique' these days and Edith Finch has some similarity to 'Rapture' with its realistic artstyle and walking sim mystery. Maybe Sony are not investing in indies that offer similar experiences to other indies?
Its all about marketing , the majority of ps4 owners dislike indie games , I'm one of them . didnt get a ps4 to play indie games, I feel its a bit late in the PlayStation life cycle. Why wasn't there indie games in the ps1/ps2 platforms. I get some people are into retro games . its mainly Sony's fault e.g releasing no mans sky as an AAA title , amongst other games . to be fair PS store is becoming more and more like steam so there is a small number of gamers that are into indie games . low return on profit but perhaps an investment for the future ; just not very next gen. The majority of complaints and main reason why a lot of gamers have canceled PS + is due to getting indie games. I for one use PS+ to play online but each to their own
@johnny30 "Why wasn't there indie games in the ps1/ps2 platforms."
Frankly, I don't know where to start with this...
A tough one. I think, or hope, it is more about portfolio realignment then not taking risks or backing out of indies because they aren't breadwinners. I wonder if VR investment and internal organisation changes are what affected these titles?
Big names sell consoles but a diverse portfolio sells them to wider audiences. I love indie games. Sony marketed the Ps4 as being for the gamers and that, to me, means investing in all types of games.
They don't sell as well a AAA on the whole but I love indies. Bound and Rapture are two of my favourite games of the last few years.
is that much really known about the reasons behind sony not exclusively publishing either title?. rime seemed to have some kind of development hell for a while, even the developer admitted it lost track on the project for a while and had to go back to its original vision. it could depend on what kind of contract sony had as a publisher, and whether it had any financial investment obligations, or whether tequilla planned to fund the project itself. if the latter, then possibly they may have asked sony to relinquish publisher duties to allow them to find a multiplatform publisher in order to maximize return - it wouldn't really be in sony's interest to stubbornly hold on to publishing rights if it could mean the studio getting into hardship or the game not releasing at all. and if the studio needed external investment to finish the game, that would be more difficult to achieve if it was only being published on one platform. for something like journey, sony put the financial investment into the game as well as publishing it, i think i read somewhere that thatgamecompany said they didn't see a penny from the game sales until it had passed 2m sold. without knowing any real facts, simply suggesting sony ditched it for no good reason is speculatory, no matter how good it eventually turned out to be.
@rjejr
Well, words like "sale" should always trigger the King of Cheap. Like when I say "demo"
I get your concern. I love wierd and unique Sony. But I think we need to wait and see. I don't think Sony will turn their back on niche games. If anything, with more resources available I think they will support more games like journey.
Ultimately there were issues with Rime throughout development, and I am not sure we will ever truly learn what happened. Dont forget, Rime started as an xbox exclusive before they dropped it. Then Sony saved the project somewhat. I am surprised (and pleased) that the game turned out well, but all the signs were that something was very wrong.
Sony continue to fund interesting, unique and original games as you say such as gravity rush, horizon, dreams and detroit and invest in interesting new technology like vr.
I think that come Paris or gamescom or psx 2017 the games you want to see will have a presence
@Rob_230
Couldn't have said it better squire, spot on!
Presuming that being Multiplatform is more lucrative for Developers then maybe Sony is trying to help them by not making these Exclusivity deals that in the long run mit the Developers income. Although i personally think something wemt down with Rime. In 4yrs they could release these games on iOS or Android if they wanted. Wouldnt be able to do that if it was PlayStation exclusive.
The games may be good, even great in some cases (I've played some indie games that I put above the big-budget stuff) but at the end of the day they don't sell consoles. It's tough to hear for people who love these games but if they are still going to end up on PlayStation anyway, why shell out the extra money to make them exclusive when they're not going to move anything? The games that sell consoles are the Rockstar games, the Ubisoft games, Call of Duty and a variety of 'AAA' exclusives from first and second parties. Better to put that extra money into more in-house 'AAA' development or marketing deals with companies like Rockstar than to shell out to lock up an indie game that may sell 300,000 on PSN but won't be moving any PS4s off shelves.
I think the idea that these indie games aren't system sellers needs at least some push back. Individually none of these would make someone choose Sony over MS, but collectively they absolutely do. They make Sony stand apart from MS and their big online multiplayer focus. While Sony's AAA exclusives still have a pretty clear advantage over MS, these excellent indie titles help to fill out the PS experience and I wish for that not to go away.
Lol, Sony has plenty of games with many, many more on the way. There are no shortages of exclusives nor 3rd party games. Sounds like you are overracting because a game you like didn't make the cut.
@get2sammyb It is a concern, as you say, with genuine potential to miss some very good ideas, without these supporting schemes for smaller devs in place, but I would be surprised to see Sony completely drop the ball in this case and would assume they assist on a case by case basis.. At least i hope so.
However I'll counter that claim with a suspicion that Sony have increasingly relaxed their release/standards rules on the store, with some rather poor titles being allowed to air, with Life Of Black Tiger and that Horse Racing 2016 being prominent in my mind.
Making it easier to ship a game is great, with more choice being a good thing, but it usually leads to plenty of shovelware coming through or just plain dross, which worries me..
PS I wonder if the new "Game Recommendations" section that released in the States is the first direct sign of them changing the way they curate their indie games, I cannot imagine Triple A's being in this recommendation section, considering the amount of advertising that is already in place... Just a thought anyway.
I think sometimes the press needs to step back and look at the bigger picture. There is a general love from the press over so called walking simulators, but it seems a lot less like they are the darling of the general populace and I doubt they do more than passable sales from a business point of view. Taking Edith Finch, it was an interesting enough project, but most people interested could happily watch the youtube playthrough of it without losing much enjoyment.
Much like with the film industry, you will get the critics raving over an arthouse film, but the general populace not giving such projects a second thought, or outright dismissing them. I don't see Sony integral to releasing them either and wouldn't be surprised if Sony has stepped away from those games due to market saturation being much greater than when Journey and Unfinished Swan released, they are no longer a unique selling point.
One last thing, Edith Finch being considered as the best game of the year so far surely shows a gulf between people writing articles like this and most gamers. I'm not saying the game is bad, far from it, but it is unlikely it would reach most people's top 10 for the year if we're honest.
@johnny30 I like how you speak for tha majority over 50 million gamers that APPARENTLY hate indie why god knows, that attitude is ridiculous, games are games full stop.
And there was indie games in the PS1 days, they just had to release at retail first.
@dichotomy Most people probably would put Edith in their 10 because most people only buy a few games a year and sadly it's the likes of CoD they always buy. Surely if the game's good then it should be in contention.
@get2sammyb
I'm going to take a stab from a different angle. Perhaps it's not as beneficial of a situation for indies to held exclusive by a major publisher i.e. Sony, MS, Nintendo. Indies are those ground level guys looking to release a project from a creative sense or from a fan or passion standpoint. As we know indies aren't major anticipated sellers as they debut to the world yet we enjoy them and they offer up something refreshing to cleanse your pallet from AAAs and the usual fare. In order to get the best outcome indies should have as much an opportunity to be multiplatform as they can. As long as they release on PS it's all good, but when you're at entry level you need sales and exposure to continue making the projects you see fit. With the indie market growing we have more and more publishers that are interested in backing good indie releases. I don't see that as a negative for Sony, they're always going to be a Japanese company and want to enjoy a mix of diversity in their portfolio, but from a business standpoint I assume they don't see the need to spend a high level of attention and costs for unknown return on investment, but I also believe they won't abandon them altogether. Let us not forgot the backing and funding of Asian independent developers/indies announced at PSX and Tokyo Game Show like Lost Souls Aside etc....Have we totally dismissed that??? That's solid evidence that Sony hasn't thrown in the towel yet for the little guys.
@Tru80zGamer Sure, but sometimes you need a publisher to be able to afford to get the game made. Your other options may be bet your life savings or go to Kickstarter
@get2sammyb
I do agree with you in that aspect if you're looking to get your game off the ground initially or period but those are entry risks you deal with just as you would in many professions or starting your own business etc. And yeah KickStarter is an iffy proposition somewhat at least in the contributors eyes now as the few bad experiences highlight the taste or negative chatter for most it seems. The thing is though and I could be wrong but I think you still have to show the Publisher something or have proof of concept to gain their support. What I think we have now it seems is a lot more independent publishers to fill that role in place of Sony, just as we have a lot more indie developers now looking to create. In the past it seems you didn't have individuals leave major companies and start their own publishing companies as they do now. Plus with the digital realm and internet exposure/marketing it's a different industry than the old days. It seems perhaps Sony doesn't need to be front in center in that role as much anymore
@get2sammyb
I think that you are on to something here. Ultimately it's people who make games and if Sony is letting some relationships lapse with smaller more experimental developers, it's a worrying sign. These games needn't be exclusives, but it's great when Sony can say that it's through their support that the games got made. Besides it's always Sony who have pushed the creative envelope compared to a certain Redmond company. I hope they haven't lost their touch.
@Gamer83 First time i agree with you on something. Even the most horrible triple A games sell better then the greatest Indies its sad but true.
Both game suffers major delay right?
I think Sony just made policy for dropping overdue development of 2nd party indies...
@whywai88
I know Rime was in development hell for a while. I'd really love to know the true story behind what happened with it as maybe that would give us an idea why Sony dropped the game.
@Flaming_Kaiser
It is a shame. As I've posted many times before, most of the games I like are of the 'AAA' or 'B' variety (I put games like Gravity Rush and NieR in this category) but there's some really great indies as well. I look at something like the Velocity series and I wonder what it could be if Sony, Nintendo or MS (doesn't matter which one) got behind it and threw some money to the developer to bring it up to 'B' standards. Velocity 2X is already awesome, a sequel with a budget similar to one of Sony's games like Gravity Rush could be something even more special.
@Gamer247 how about you read the article next time smdh
These are all assumptions at the end of the day. RiME had a troubled development and I can understand if Sony decided to call it quits where they saw little progress being made while their money is being spent. I'm glad it turned out great but you can see why such things happen. Housemarque perhaps like you've already mentioned wanted to keep this game in-house and that's understandable. But yeah, Sony should seriously just buy them.
@get2sammyb lol maybe you can start by explaining why there wasn't indies on the Super Nintendo and sega genesis
90% of the game's you listed there, Unfinished Swan, Edith Finch, journey and the like are to niche to be exclusive's. Surely low budget game's that only appeal to a small percentage of gamer's need all the sale's they can get? The three game's above all ended up on PS+ as well so after that the chance's of anyone buying the game would be even slimmer if it was PS exclusive. RiME sound's really good i'll need to check it out. Also why do you care? it's not like we won't get to play it if it's not an exclusive.
@adf86 I very much doubt the people who buy only a few games each year would buy Finch, it is a niche 90 minute collection of short stories. So it wouldn't be in those people's top 10s as they didn't play it. For most other people it is a well made curiousity that they'll mostly enjoy for its short run time (let's be honest though, not all the stories in it are hits), maybe discuss for a bit on a forum and then move on from. I think it's hard for the people who love these games to realise that most people who buy games want an actual game and not just a story you have limited control over.
I fully stand by my top 10 comment, even among the people who actually play lots of games and are active in the gaming community. In context though it was to highlight the absurdity that these vignettes are put forward as GotY contenders.
@Gamer247 Well at least you have something new to play on your X1! (lol, joking!)
Journey's release put ThatGameCompany into bankruptcy, so chances are Sony doesnt want to plan more exclusivity plans with possible struggling indies.
These smaller devs will have a much higher chance of survival if they stick to making games for all and not pandering to one company. That's something AAA does and it rarely pans out for their ultra-expensive games.
@sinalefa Yeah, put a demo on sale and I'm there.
I like to think of myself as the ying-yang gaming karma to Jax. I guess that makes me Little Orphan rjejr.
Tequila brought back the IP from sony to launch as multiplatform game.
https://www.vg247.com/2016/03/16/tequila-works-reacquires-the-rights-to-rime-from-sony/
If Sony's interest in smaller games is on the way out, that makes me concerned about the future of Plus+ (as we know it).
Imagine a world where all your $50 gets you is online play...no more free games.
I like Sony's emphasis on smaller games and I like getting them thru Plus as well.
I hope Sony reconsiders these issues in favor of keeping smaller games and Plus games going.
I get your point @get2sammyb. I loved how PS3 gave us The Unfinished Swan, Journey, Flower, PixelJunk Monsters/Shooter...etc. I am a big fan of those and in my opinion they made the PS3 so special. But I think Sony shifted their focus, they're focusing more on AAA first/second party exclusives and AAA third party deals. I think Mm(Dreams) and Japan studio are the only first party devs that are making those great, weired exclusives for PlayStation. Hope we see more.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi
"Sony probably didn't want to bother publishing a 2 hour walking experience"
It's really too bad if that's the case as it's probably the best "walking simulator" the genre has yet produced. A far cry from the massively padded and terrifically dull, "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture". It may be that game that turned Sony off of publishing a superficially similar title in, "Edith Finch" though they did give it a pretty decent push regardless.
@Donald_M Sony publishing a third party game on blu ray with it only being 2 hours long doesn't make huge business sense for them, I'm sure at some point we'll see it on a disc
@Gamer83 I agree but we vote diffrenet with our wallets because they dont sell im sorry it is this way but do understand the reasoning.
Tap here to load 57 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...