Sony knows indies don’t need consoles – The Room dev

By Brenna Hillier

Indies can make “serious money” without console manufacturers, according to Fireproof Games co-founder Barry Meade, and Sony has made it clear it knows this.

“Developers now have an option that they didn’t have before. You can make serious money by never publishing a game on a console,” Meade said in an interview during Develop Conference.

“I hope that [platform holders] take that to heart and realise what that means for them. I think Sony, certainly from what they’ve been saying publicly, seem to be letting that be known, that they’re aware of this, and they’re trying to do something about it. I really hope they follow through.”

Meaded said Sony’s wooing of indie developers is good news for everyone in the industry, not just the Japanese giant itself.

“Sony have been trying for quite a while now – ever since the reveal of the [PlayStation 4] hardware – making it known that they want to be a very publisher-friendly and developer-friendly platform. That’s awesome,” he said.

“If they follow through on that, then that’s great for everybody, because there’s so much happening in the mobile space, and on PC. It’s where all the risks are being taken at the moment, it’s where all the new stuff is coming from.

“The more Sony can bend towards that long term, the better for them. The better for everybody.”

Fireproof Games is best known for The Room, an award-winning iOS adventure. More of his thoughts on the industry and the place of indies within it can be heard in the video below.

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