Unlike a lot of other publishers, Sony doesn’t seem to rely on the franchise blockbuster model as much. Yes, it has its Uncharteds and its Ratchet and Clanks, but on the whole, Sony’s studios are free to try new things, push new and highly experimental IPs like The Last Guardian and Gravity Rush.
The reason for this is that Sony really does care about making its games unusual, and making them stand out from the crowd. This was recently confirmed by a studio that is currently working on a game for the PS4 with Sony. Giant Sparrow Creative Director Ian Dallas talked to OnlySP about the relationship between his studio and Sony, discussing Sony’s stance on creativity over pure profits.
“It’s a very symmetrical relationship too. I think a lot of times, the publisher and developer want very different things. The publisher wants to sell as much as possible and recoup their money, or at least that’s a very high priority. But with Sony, at least from what we’ve seen, their focus is much more on making a really great game – making something that stands out and is unusual. It’s nice that our goals as a developer are pretty closely aligned with Sony’s. There [are] definitely disagreements, but we’re definitely trying to get at the same goal,” Dallas said.
It certainly must be a reason for why Sony greenlights so many unusual indie games, and so many titles that are financially risky. In an industry where companies are increasingly moving towards extracting as much money from their products and their customers as possible, it’s nice to see a company that actually does care about the products it puts out, and the creativity that this medium fosters.