We want indie developers to provide new experiences for gamers, says Sony

“A new experience or a new, unique system makes an indie game a good one,” said Koji Tada, director of developer relations at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. He was speaking to Games in Asia at an interview at Casual Connect Asia 2014 yesterday, where he shared more on how Playstation was living up to its new “Playstation loves indies” motto.

“There are two reasons why we’re working with indie developers right now,” Tada-san said via an interpreter. “One is that the Playstation 4 architecture is to PC and mobile game architecture, so it’s easier for developers who have worked on PC and mobile to do business on the Playstation platform. The second reason is that many indie games are unique, with unique mechanics and visions. That’s a new experience for users, and if we get many kinds of indie games, we can give many kinds of experiences to users, and they’ll be happy to have a Playstation.”

(See: Here’s what happens when you’re first in line for a Playstation 4 launch (VIDEO))

Playstation helmed one of the first presentations of Casual Connect Asia 2014 earlier, with Tada-san taking the stage to walk developers through the stages of Playstation’s new self-publishing model.

The developer relations director said that while it was difficult for Playstation to help indie studios in development proper, the company would support them as much as it could during the publishing process. “Unity is one of the ways,” he said in the interview, echoing what he said on stage. “We are also looking at other ways of supporting Asian developers in publishing their games on Playstation.”

Culturalization is one such way. Tada-san said that Playstation is lending its support to some developers, but that it can’t support all developers right now. “We’re still seeing how they can be successful in each country,” he said. Tada-san also added that culturalization is important, “because if you just translate the language without thinking about users in the country, the game might not do as well as expected, even if it’s really good.”

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However, Tada-san believes that Asian developers don’t have the same experience as developers in the US and Japan have. “There are good games [in Asia],” he said, “but the developers have never developed for console, so they don’t know how to approach console users.”

Nonetheless, there are still Asian games to look forward to. Tada-san shared that Playstation is presently working with developers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and that the Playstation team will be using Casual Connect Asia 2014 as a fertile hunting ground for more developers to take part in the new Playstation publishing program. If you’re lucky, you might just see Tada-san and his colleagues stop by your booth in the Indie Prize showcase area!

(See: Competition is fierce for this year’s Asian Indie Prize)

To sum it all up? Tada-san said that there are many games in Asia that provide good experiences for users, but that Playstation is still working to get them on Playstation platforms. “We’ll make an announcement when we’re ready,” Tada-san said.