Sony Wants to Repair its Relationship With its Indie Partners

[Abby_TheLastofUs]

The platform holder is responding to complaints by pledging to improve its communications, processes, and opportunities for small developers.

 

Quote

 

Back in July, a number of indie publishers publicly called out Sony for its apparent ongoing dismissal of the immense challenges facing small developers trying to publish games on PlayStation. While publicly Sony offered no official comment on these complaints at the time, it appears that the company was quietly listening after all -- and has recently begun to take some action.

 

Looking back at our conversations with these publishers at the time, a number of key issues were brought to light. Sony, indie publishers and developers said, had overly complex tools and forms, unclear processes, and poor communication with its indie partners when it came to getting answers, guidance, or issues resolved. They also expressed that while discoverability was an industry-wide issue, Sony was at best indifferent or at worst actively adversarial to these struggles, making PlayStation a very challenging platform for indie game sales.

 

What’s more, it sounds like the vocal indies who spoke up in July were not alone in feeling this way. IGN has obtained a copy of a document entitled “2021 Global Partner Survey Results,” which was sent out to a number of Sony’s partner publishers and developers as a follow-up to a survey that was conducted sometime prior.

 

The findings document is short -- only three pages long -- and does not specifically mention the public complaints from this past summer. But it does identify three target areas for “continued improvement” based on the results of the survey, all of which directly correspond to issues the indie publishers brought up on social media and in articles.

 

First, there’s “reducing complexity,” with Sony pledging, among other things, to improve communication channels, clarify who publishers should be taking concerns to, and make sure it’s giving enough detail about its operations to its partners so they can make decisions. Second, Sony promised to give all its active publishing and developing partners access to better game sales, engagement, and promotion analytics, as well as improve discoverability. And finally, Sony says it will modernize its toolset and improve its ticketing systems, documentation, and customer service efforts for partner issues.

 

After viewing this document, IGN followed up with a number of the indies we spoke with over the summer. Based on their responses, it appears that Sony is already taking some actions to improve its communication and partnerships with its smaller publishing partners. Akupara Games CEO David Logan says that both Akupara’s account manager and head of PlayStation creators Greg Rice reached out to his company personally following the publication of our original article.

 

“They were obviously crushed at the news, and it was clear that the account managers at Sony had been working hard for a long time to push through a lot of the ideas the indie developers flagged in our initial discussions,” he says. “After the articles, that seemed to give a huge boost to initiatives they had already been planning, because rapidly after Sony started rolling out a bunch of big changes.”

 

What were those big changes? Logan, who says he’s “always had a solid communication frequency” with Akupara’s account manager, tells me that his issues with Sony support response times have drastically improved, for one. While previously he had complained of having a support ticket open for nine months, he says now response times are down to an average of about five days, with most responses coming within 24 to 48 hours. Meanwhile, others we spoke to who had previously struggled with Sony’s communication, like Whitethorn Digital CEO Matthew White, says that the issue has improved across the board.

 

“It's always slow dealing with big major companies but it definitely feels more fluid and natural now,” he says.

 

The same anonymous self-published indie developer I spoke to for the original piece also affirmed faster communication, adding that Sony had also been including more resources and links in its emails since the initial complaints. And Neon Doctrine co-founder Iain Garner, who wrote the initial Twitter thread that sparked the July discussion, told me that Neon Doctrine’s recent release, Lamentum, had been featured prominently on PlayStation’s YouTube channel when it was launched in August.

 

While communication seems to have been a relatively quick fix in many respects, Logan notes that making its processes more transparent is very complex in and of itself.

 

However, he says that fixing the communication problem has already helped make internal processes less opaque, and he believes Sony has been in the process of simplifying systems for a while now. For instance, Logan says that Sony has spent the last two years transitioning to a more streamlined process for making game pages.

 

“We’re hopeful that’s a sign of internal efforts to do the same across the board.”

 

On the discoverability front, change is a bit slower, but there’s still movement. Logan mentioned a new fund that Sony has rolled out recently that helps indie developers get their games to PlayStation by financing porting costs. He described the terms as “very friendly” and only required an announcement of the game’s release on the platform and release parity with any other platforms.

 

And Logan, White, and Those Awesome Guys project manager Cristian Botea all say they had been invited to more sales recently. That said, both Logan and White add that it’s still frustrating to have to be invited to discount their games by Sony, rather than having the option themselves at any time like they can on other platforms. For example, Logan mentioned that Akupara recently held a 5th anniversary sale across several platforms, and while they “would have loved” to also discount their games on PlayStation, they were unable to do so.

 

White, however, points out another small change that his company anticipates “will make a huge visibility difference.” It’s the addition of a New Release section on the PS5’s PS Store, which ensures that any new release, regardless of size, gets at least a little bit of time in the sun when it first comes out.

 

He also praises the “Indies” tab on the store, which has been around for a while now. Garner, however, has been less pleased with that feature. “It features the usual suspects, and there's still no way for a game to prove itself; it has to rely on Sony staff to advocate.”

 

Overall, the indies we spoke to six months ago seem more positive about their relationships with PlayStation going forward. White says that the public criticism “seems to have put a fire under somebody,” adding that while there had been worry from some about retribution from the platform holder following the complaints, Sony has taken the criticism gracefully.

 

“I think we were clearly not like, ‘PlayStation sucks.’ Because none of us think that. We want their ecosystem to succeed and to do that we all have to succeed too.”

 

Others such as Garner are less optimistic about the future of indies on PlayStation -- though Garner reiterates that the situation isn’t much better on other consoles.

 

“Xbox is a little more open-handed with promotion and Switch provides you with a spot in a list, so both are a bit better than Sony. But in a world where Steam exists they are all being very silly, in my opinion.”

 

He says games like Neon Doctrine-published Legend of Tianding will “never be able to blow up on consoles” in the way they can on Steam due to Steam’s algorithms. Garner can market and build a game’s community, he says, and then when Steam’s algorithm notices interest, it will promote the game accordingly.

 

“I hope all the platforms can figure out a way to surface promising games that doesn't rely on gatekeeper nonsense,” he concludes. “If I have a good game that the data shows people like, why do I need to beg an account manager for a feature?”

 

Similarly, the anonymous indie developer we spoke to feels the changes are good moves in the short term, but also points out Sony’s history of supporting indie developers when it doesn’t have a huge slate of first-party titles on a new console, and then abandoning them once its first-party potential is realized. And, like Garner, he sees the problem as much bigger than Sony.

 

“I think it is important to keep indies and the way they are often treated by gamers and big companies in the light for discussion,” they say. “We as an industry can’t let this be a one time every four to five months conversation until something bad happens again. While this is a small step forward by PlayStation, we still, as an industry, have a long way to go before things are ‘right’ with how indies are treated compared to the big games.”

 

Sony declined IGN’s request for comment.

 

 

Good to hear Sony's responding to some of criticism from indie devs. A step in the right direction.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Abby_TheLastofUs

[Lordguwa]

if it brings more games to the sony platform. that's a good thing (i'm a fan of indies).

Edited December 14, 2021 by Lordguwa

[OpenScars]

Isn't PSN just FULL of indie games? Every sale is 99% indie rubbish amongst some decent ones.

[HusKy]

They seem to have good relationships with shovelware publishers at least.

[The_Mighty_Ducks]

What Sony really needs to do is repair their relationship with their customers. 

 

1. Stop censoring anything for the U.S. region.. Like whatever Nintendo allows, do the same.. 

 

2. That attempt to shut down Legacy console stores.. We like to play old games still.. I still buy games and play on my PS3 and Vita. Cause I can't play those console games on the PS4 or PS5, this is where the Xbox is King. 

 

I have more, but those 2 are my biggest problems with Sony. They were doing great, just going up and up in every aspect. But they've been declining. 

 

 

 

 

[VigilantCrow]

Support the Indies, especially the small teams. They're far better than the AAA garbage that gets pushed out.

 

[EverythingOnFire]

1 hour ago, OpenScars said:

Isn't PSN just FULL of indie games? Every sale is 99% indie rubbish amongst some decent ones.

 

Yes, but that's not what this is about. It's about improving visibility/promotion, and making it easier for Indie devs to put their games on sale when they themselves want to.

[Slava]

Yeah, I remember the stories about the discoverability part. Namely, how hard it can be to find the game in the PS store even by its name. Well, good to know that Sony is working on improving that.

 

https://www.psu.com/news/descenders-developer-shows-how-hard-it-is-to-find-new-indie-games-on-the-playstation-store/

 

https://www.vg247.com/indie-devs-talk-poor-visibility-ps-store-25k-cost-better-placement

 

Also, not related to the topic, but I just noticed that IGN is finally doing some quality journalism with the help of Rebekah Valentine (formerly GamesIndustry.biz). Haven't seen anything like that from them in a long time until her acrticle about Bungie and this one. Or at least it feels like I haven't.

[communistwookiee]

Gotta wonder if Shu has has anything to do with this.

[OpenScars]

5 hours ago, EverythingOnFire said:

 

Yes, but that's not what this is about. It's about improving visibility/promotion, and making it easier for Indie devs to put their games on sale when they themselves want to.

Ah, so 100% of the games are indie.... awesome.

Also, yeah.... companies should be allowed to say when their games are on sale. I didn't know that. That's shit on Sony's part.

[Wagszilla]

They can start by getting Katana Zero released. 

[DEI2EK]

How about repairing their relationship with Japan and Japanese devs instead of bullying them into self censorship

[steel6burgh]

the indie games have been the best games lately so they should try to fix their relationship.   AAA titles have all been pretty underwhelming or repetitive.  More and more my wishlist of games is filling in with indies and less and less AAA.   I'm completely abandoning certain franchises going forward.  

[AJ_Radio]

8 hours ago, steel6burgh said:

the indie games have been the best games lately so they should try to fix their relationship.   AAA titles have all been pretty underwhelming or repetitive.  More and more my wishlist of games is filling in with indies and less and less AAA.   I'm completely abandoning certain franchises going forward.  

 

The only stuff that really appeals to me is games like Elden Ring. Looking at Ubisoft, EA, and Activision, their library just feels meh.

[steel6burgh]

10 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

The only stuff that really appeals to me is games like Elden Ring. Looking at Ubisoft, EA, and Activision, their library just feels meh.

 I actually never completed a From software game until about this time last year and i like there games.  They are a step above the Activisions and EA's of the business for sure.  I have to say though, as someone else someplace on this site has already mentioned, if i end up running through a poison swamp in Elden Ring as i have in all the other From software games I've played then I may just be done with them too.  Don't get me wrong a poison swamp themed level is ok from time to time, just not every time!  Having played three of their games so close together It starts to feel like your playing the exact same game over again, much like a Ubisoft title.  Doing the same thing every time is a money grab technique.    they are doing what made them money in the 1st place because that is proven and safe so you end up getting the same thing every time you play one of their titles.  From Software gives you a gothic theme with great musical scores and checkpoints and shortcuts and boss fights.  Ubisoft gives you big open worlds with 1000 tasks to complete.    Neither of them are doing anything original, really.  I would still take From software any day. just saying.

[Happy]

This is pretty important and has imo been one of Sony’s biggest failings in recent memory. The Switch has completely outclassed both the PS4 and 5 in terms of indie library and it didn’t use to be this way. Sony has been sleeping on the indie market extremely hard and the result is that games widely anticipated even by a more casual audience like Hollow Knight 2 are launching on PC and Switch, not on Playstation.

[starcrunch061]

In regards to the problems with Sony’s store, I completely agree that it is difficult to find indie games. But honestly, it’s difficult to find anything. The PSN store, at its best moments, is garbage. At its worst (e.g. when accessing it from your console)? It’s unusable, regardless of if you’re looking for indies or anything else.

 

One big problem for indies is the lack of QC on the store. How can a game like Salt and Sanctuary move front and center, when weekly releases like Our Church Halloween RPG immediately crowd it out? To fix these issues, someone with know-how needs to be fixing the store, and I’m not convinced that anyone like that exists within Sony. Certainly, none of their decisions have suggested it.

 

I mean, seriously, when’s the last time you said, “Man - I love shopping on the console store!”?

[pinkrobot_pb]

40 minutes ago, starcrunch061 said:

I mean, seriously, when’s the last time you said, “Man - I love shopping on the console store!”?

 

I only go through PSprices.com these days. All of the Sony store fronts themselves are garbage now. I haven't even bought a lot at all in the last year. A couple of years ago on the old web store, every sale was fun because you could actually browse the damn games in a variety of ways.

 

Something I noticed is that for weeks not a single Vita or PS3 game has been on sale in the EU. And by that I mean the cross buy titles with PS4. Nothing for weeks on end when there always used to be something. It's a bit weird.

[ASMODAIOS344]

On 14/12/2021 at 7:29 PM, The_Mighty_Ducks said:

What Sony really needs to do is repair their relationship with their customers. 

 

1. Stop censoring anything for the U.S. region.. Like whatever Nintendo allows, do the same.. 

 

2. That attempt to shut down Legacy console stores.. We like to play old games still.. I still buy games and play on my PS3 and Vita. Cause I can't play those console games on the PS4 or PS5, this is where the Xbox is King. 

 

I have more, but those 2 are my biggest problems with Sony. They were doing great, just going up and up in every aspect. But they've been declining. 

 

 

 

 

 

1) That affect every region not only USA and other American countries but is what is.

 

2) I don't disagree with that,  thankfully the reaction of PS3 users was quick.

[AJ_Radio]

5 hours ago, Happy said:

This is pretty important and has imo been one of Sony’s biggest failings in recent memory. The Switch has completely outclassed both the PS4 and 5 in terms of indie library and it didn’t use to be this way. Sony has been sleeping on the indie market extremely hard and the result is that games widely anticipated even by a more casual audience like Hollow Knight 2 are launching on PC and Switch, not on Playstation.

 

You can add Rogue Legacy 2 to that list. What's sad is I barely managed to see Axiom Verge 2 on here. Completely went under my radar.

 

Speaking of which, early indie titles on the PS4 like Rogue Legacy and Transistor have a substantially larger game owner count. Unfortunately, sometime after the website overhaul the site owner decided to stop tracking accounts automatically which meant that only people and users that regularly visited this website would be tracked. As a Premium Member I can manually update my profile every minute, but it takes around five or six hours after I gained a trophy on the PS4 for the website to automatically track it.

 

Turns out, you don't need all too good of specs to run most indie games so the Switch is actually a decent choice, all things considered. Sony in recent times has cared almost solely for the AAA properties, notably Naughty Dog with their Last of Us franchise despite all the backlash the sequel received.

 

They've turned down a lot of indie games, forced Japanese developers to censor their games and are seemingly out of touch with their player base. When they were still Sony Computer Entertainment before they became Sony Interactive Entertainment, you were certain a few decent indie games would arrive on the PS4. But no more.

 

There is stuff like Trigger Witch and other indies, but Sony has basically shoved that completely under the rug and barely anybody here seems to care that it is. Meanwhile they're happy to jump on Our Church Halloween RPG, which is absolute garbage and bottom of the barrel, showing Sony's obvious lack of quality control. Something they had during the PS3 and early PS4 era.

[dieselmanchild]

On 2021-12-14 at 9:47 AM, VigilantCrow said:

Support the Indies, especially the small teams. They're far better than the AAA garbage that gets pushed out.

 

You can just feel how much passion, care, and attention to detail gets poured into so many of these indie titles, especially when you compare them to these creatively bankrupt AAA titles that are continually released in broken, buggy states. 

 

Sony should be doing everything in their power to encourage and support these talented indie studios and help them get their games to market. These high quality indie titles could become one of PlayStation’s greatest strengths if the appropriate care was taken to nurture them and help them grow. 
 

Also they should be helping them promote their games too so they don’t get buried under the endless stream of shovelware sewage that oversaturates the market. It really does help. There are some indie gems, like Moonlighter for example, that I only discovered because they were being advertised on the PlayStation store as an Editor’s Pick or Hidden Gems or whatever. 

 

 

[BrandedBerserk]

Which indies are we talking? Vast majority of em in the store are utter garbage.

[You]

They need to also be fairer to the current devs still using their platform.

 

I mean, I forgot how many times it is I log into the store and I am just bombarded with ads for all the already popular games.

 

And then during the sales you go into the full list and, GTA5, God Of War, FIFA etc, all the EXACT same games are right at the top of these lists and you have to scroll way down.

 

When shark cards for GTA5 and loot boxes get listed higher than entire games (indie or not) that should be an instant red flag.

 

At least I think it is.

[ladynadiad]

6 hours ago, starcrunch061 said:

In regards to the problems with Sony’s store, I completely agree that it is difficult to find indie games. But honestly, it’s difficult to find anything. The PSN store, at its best moments, is garbage. At its worst (e.g. when accessing it from your console)? It’s unusable, regardless of if you’re looking for indies or anything else.

 

One big problem for indies is the lack of QC on the store. How can a game like Salt and Sanctuary move front and center, when weekly releases like Our Church Halloween RPG immediately crowd it out? To fix these issues, someone with know-how needs to be fixing the store, and I’m not convinced that anyone like that exists within Sony. Certainly, none of their decisions have suggested it.

 

I mean, seriously, when’s the last time you said, “Man - I love shopping on the console store!”?

 

It really is, and I honestly use another site for searching because it's amazing how you can't even search by dev or publisher.  At least platprices.com lets me search by publisher, but they can't do anything for dev since it's no longer on the store.  Also, why did they stop showing who the dev is for a game on the store?  Not all games have the same dev and publisher and that definitely hurts the smaller devs who have to rely on a publisher to get their games released.  While publisher can be useful for publishers like Kemco and Artifex Mundi who tend to release similar games, it's unhelpful for a publisher like Ratalaika who publish all sorts of games and the only trait they have in common is the tendency towards easy trophies.  On top of that, it shows a lack of respect for those devs with the implication that the publisher is the only one deserving of credit for the game when the dev is the one who did the most work.

[Segimon]

18 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

The only stuff that really appeals to me is games like Elden Ring. Looking at Ubisoft, EA, and Activision, their library just feels meh.

Don’t forget Bethesda. I hate that company with a passion.