With all the indie support around the PlayStation 4, which includes both big names like The Witness, Hotline Miami 2 and Outlast along with relatively new efforts like Wasteland Kings and Octodad: Dadliest Catch, it’s no wonder that the company will be heavily leaning on these titles in between big releases.
Speaking to Famitsu, lead system architect Mark Cerny actually talked about the console’s ease of development, stating, “We asked assorted creators what kind of functionality we should put in, and we used their responses as a base when we finalized the hardware architecture. We’re aiming for not just performance, but also an environment setup that allows for smooth PS4 game development.
“Small-scale projects don’t even take a month [to reach that point], and even big titles can get rolling in two or three months. As a result, I think we’ve built one of the neatest launch lineups in game history.
“With our PS3 experience, we understand the factors needed for powerful, effective development, so that’s why we treated our twin goals of performance and ease of development so seriously. Thanks to that, I think we were able to reduce development time on Knack by around a year.”
Of course, as SCE Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida explained, these indie titles will also help prevent a drought of releases when the PS4 first launches, similar to what was seen with the PS2 and PS3 in their initial years. “That’s why we’re trying to give our help out to indie titles. Huge titles from large makers take time to develop; they can’t just be brought out immediately. However, with the indie scene, especially in the West, we’re seeing really neat games coming out from there pretty much every week.
“I’d like to get that indie flow going in the Japan market as well, with unique titles coming out one after the other. More and more users are making digital purchases these days, so even studios making games with small teams can make it into a business.”
Cerny stated that, “The PS4 is really easy to build games on. I think we’ll see a variety of products coming out from lots of creators. I’m confident that the system will allow many creators to get involved.”
The PlayStation 4 launches on November 15th for North America and November 29th for Europe. Which indie title will you be looking forward to?