Icon Games Discusses The Challenges Of Indie Game Development, Sees PS Vita As The 'Most Realistic Prospect Of Earning Income'

The indie outfit is behind some of the better PlayStation Minis available on the PlayStation Store — but it's not just the studio's chops as a developer that's won us over.

For months now, the studio has been extremely candid, discussing its success — or lack thereof — on the various console storefronts. With game releases spanning the PlayStation Minis, Nintendo WiiWare and iOS platforms, Icon Games is well equipped to talk about its experiences with each of the major platform holders.

Surprisingly, it's PlayStation Minis where Icon Games has seen the most success — with Sony's micro-games label accounting for just under 60% of the studio's game sales in 2011 — and the developer hopes to extend that goodwill with Sony fans by pledging support to the PlayStation Vita.

Icon currently has two PlayStation Vita titles in development, alongside a further two Minis.

"We have been developing, on and off, for Vita the past few months. It has been difficult to put enough time into it recently as we have been finishing off two PSP Minis – which are essential to us in order to keep some sort of income coming in while we wait for our Vita titles to start earning revenue," Icon's gaffer Richard Hill-Whittall explained.

The developer believes that the PlayStation Vita offers the studio's "most realistic prospect of earning a decent level of income", although it didn't indicate why. Whatever the reason, it's clear that the developer has been touched by the support that SCEE's offered.

"I’ve also got to say how good SCEE have been to work with; they are very supportive and deal with any concerns in a very positive way. No other platform holder comes close to this and it makes it a completely different (in a very good way) experience. They listen, help where they can and treat you with professional respect – certainly from our dealings with platform holders in the past this has been unique and very welcome," Hill-Whittall continued. It's not the first time Icon's sang Sony's praises.

But despite the excitement associated with working on a new platform like the PS Vita, Hill-Whittall also conceded that it's frightening coming up against all of the other big-budget titles currently announced for the system: "It is more than a little scary when we look at some of the products and well-funded teams out there who are working on Vita right now. Sometimes I wake up and think; sh*t – how the hell are we ever going to pull this off!?"

The media has frequently pushed Apple's iOS storefront as the saviour for indie developers, but Icon Games disagrees. Without elaborating too much, Hill-Whittall concluded that the App Store is a "scary marketplace".

As a result, the developer's decided against putting all of its eggs in Apple's basket — opting instead to continue its output on Sony's PlayStation Minis platform and the PS Vita. Fascinatingly, the numbers speak for themselves.