Sword of the Sea PS Plus
Image: Push Square

Sword of the Sea is one of our favourite PS5 games of the year so far — but without striking a PS Plus deal with Sony, it sounds like developer Giant Squid could have had a bit of a disaster on its hands.

In a fascinating new interview with GamesIndustry.biz, studio co-founder Matt Nava gives some welcome insight into how Sword of the Sea was signed up for PlayStation's subscription service, and how Sony's backing was pivotal in launching such a highly rated title.

Basically, about halfway through development, Giant Squid needed additional funding to keep things rolling, and the PlayStation Indies program was the answer.

"It's just fantastic that Sony has a program like that," says Nava. "This big, powerful company has a dedicated group of people inside that really care about the artistic aspect of the medium."

PlayStation Indies provides development-side support and funding to studios that Sony takes an interest in — but obviously, such backing requires some kind of deal to be struck.

For Giant Squid, the agreement (or at least part of it) was to add Sword of the Sea to PS Plus Extra on day one, bolstering August's lineup of downloadable games.

Nava clearly had to weigh things up before accepting the deal: "On the one hand, you're giving away the game for free to all these people who are already subscribed. But at the same time, way more people are playing it – you're getting more eyes on the game. And that's tremendously valuable as well."

Over the last couple of years or so, there's been a lot of discussion over whether subscription services like PS Plus and Game Pass actually benefit the industry and the development teams that commit their games them.

Indeed, Game Pass in particular has been accused of pushing an unsustainable model, but according to Nava, Sword of the Sea simply wouldn't have come together without Sony and the PS Plus deal that it tabled.

"It was really wonderful for us because that extra control helped us in the final moments of getting this game out the door," he explains. "We were able to do some crazy tricks and get some fixes at the last second. And, man, it saved the game."

Are you glad that Giant Squid took Sony's deal? What are your thoughts on Sword of the Sea? Pull off some sick surfsword flips in the comments section below.

[source gamesindustry.biz]