Arguably, no other console manufacturer has as many and as diverse third party relations in this industry as Sony does. Literally any kind of third party game – indie or AAA, western or Japanese – ends up making it on to the PlayStation. A lot of this has to do with the guy handling these relations with the third party- it used to be Adam Boyes, before he left, and now it is Florian Hunziker, who is filling in that role of VP of Third Party Relations.
Speaking to GamesBeat in an interview, Hunziker revealed what fans can expect from PlayStation under his watch. “Early on, most of my focus will be on two key areas,” he said. “The first is making sure our partners, whether they’re a publisher with millions [of dollars] invested in a major franchise or a bootstrapped startup led by a team of passionate developers, get support to easily develop for our platforms and get rewarded for creating great experiences for our fans.
“I will also focus on making sure our fans know they made the right choice when they chose PlayStation. It’s incumbent on us to make sure we’re doing everything we can to maintain a diverse gaming library. I think it is important to provide vibrant and diverse content to PlayStation fans. We want to focus on both huge IPs and smaller developers who are willing to take risks to bring something new and innovative to PlayStation. The industry will thrive from a varied and vibrant development community delivering games that engage and amaze gamers.”
Hunziker also discussed procuring more indie games support for the platform, as well as the notion of exclusivity. “Our fans can expect us to continue to focus on indie games and unique partnerships,” he said. “PlayStation has done a great job bringing diverse content to the platform and I want to continue that focus whether the games are from indies or publishers. Having worked on both the publishing and development side in my career, I know that “exclusivity” is a polarizing topic in the game industry. However, I also understand that there’s a great deal of creative innovation that would never happen without a first party taking on significant financial responsibility. I’m fired up to be joining a company that’s not afraid to take these risks and bring compelling IPs to market.”
So it sounds like things are going to continue to be much the same under Hunziker as they were under Boyes. For fans of PlayStation, that can only be good news.