*This article is compiled from IGN US and is not reproduced without authorization.
In July 2021, a group of small game publishers joined forces to woo Sony, saying it would be difficult to launch their own games on the PlayStation platform. Sony didn't respond publicly at the time, but apparently they did listen to the opinions and recently launched a rectification operation.
Looking back at the conversations with these publishers at the time, they revealed several important issues. Independent publishers and developers say Sony's application tools and forms are too complex, cumbersome, and there isn't enough communication with independent partners to provide vendors with answers, guidance, or help them solve problems. They also said that although the problem of exposure of works is a common phenomenon in the industry, Sony is the most serious problem and the most passive attitude to actively deal with it, making PlayStation a platform that is not suitable for independent game release.
Not only that, but the independent manufacturers who spoke out in July didn't seem to be in the minority. IGN obtained a document called the "Global Partner Survey Results 2021," which is the result of a previous survey sent by Sony to its distribution partners. The document is short, only three pages long, and does not specifically mention the problems that developers pointed out over the summer. However, based on its findings, it points out three directions for continuous improvement, which are a direct response to the various issues pointed out by independent publishers in articles and social media.
First, the document mentions the need to "reduce complexity," and Sony pledges to enhance communication channels, clarify who publishers should communicate with, and ensure that partners are provided with enough information to help them make decisions. Second, Sony is also committed to providing all publishers and development partners with better game sales, attention, and promotion analysis, and will also optimize the exposure of the game. Finally, Sony said it would improve its tools and audit system, classification logging procedures and customer service for its partners.
After learning about the document, IGN followed up with interviews with several independent publishers who spoke out in the summer. Judging by their reactions, it appears that Sony has taken action to optimize communication and partnerships with small distribution partners. David Logan, CEO of Akupara Games, said that after the initial report, greg Rice, the account manager in charge of Akupara Studios and the head of PlayStation creators, approached their company.
"They were obviously shocked by the news, and they could see that Sony's account manager had long been committed to solving a lot of the problems that we were asking at the time," he said. "After this article was published, it was equivalent to pushing a lot of the programs they had planned to implement, because soon after that they made a lot of huge changes."
What do these huge changes include? Logan, who has been in constant communication with Akupara's account manager, told me that one example of this is the dramatic increase in the speed of Sony customer service responses. He has complained that support requests are put on hold for up to 9 months, but he says that the average response time is now as long as 5 days, and most requests are answered within 24 to 48 hours. At the same time, other vendors we interviewed at the time who complained about Sony's communication problems, such as Matthew White, CEO of Whitethorn Digital, also said that many of the problems had improved.
"Communication with large companies is always slow, but now it's obviously smoother and much more natural." He said so.
The anonymous indie game developer I was interviewed earlier also confirmed to me that the communication speed was faster, adding that Sony had provided more resources and links in communication emails since the interview was issued at the time. It was a tweet from Neon Dorctrome co-founder Iain Garner that sparked the discussion, and he told me that Neon Doctrine's secret project Lamentations was promoted by playStation's official Youtube account when it went on sale in August.
While communication issues have improved rapidly in many ways, Logan says it's less straightforward to be more transparent with internal processes. However, he said that improving communication problems has made their internal processes less obscure, and he believes Sony has always intended to streamline the process. For example, Logan says Sony has been simplifying the production of game pages for the past two years. "We hope it's an internal signal and they're going to push it to the rest."
On the issue of game exposure, the pace of reform has been a little slower, but there has been some progress; including some published and unpublished indie game developer funding. Cristian Botea, project managers at Logan, White, and Those Awesome Guys, all say their games have sold more recently. However, both Logan and White add that they still have to go through Sony's invitation to run discount promotions, unlike other platforms that can decide when to discount. Logan, for example, said that Akupara Studios recently held a 5th anniversary promotion on multiple platforms, and they "wanted to" discount it on the PlayStation platform, but they couldn't do it.
White also pointed to another proposal that his company believes "could greatly improve the issue of exposure." In the "New Games" section on the homepage of the PS5 Store, you can let them appear for a period of time, regardless of the size of the game, as long as there is a new game on the market.
He also praised the addition of "independent" assortment labels to the store for some time. Garner wasn't happy with the feature. "It's all popular (indie) games that are common and popular, and other games can't prove their status, or they have to get the favor of Sony employees to get in."
Overall, the indie game makers we interviewed 6 months ago have a more positive view of their relationship with Sony. White said the public criticism "seems to have made someone anxious", and some people had worried that their complaints would lead to punishment from the platform, but Sony humbly accepted the shortcomings pointed out by everyone.
"We don't think PlayStation is bad, we never thought about it that way. We want their ecological success so that we can all succeed together."
Garner and others aren't as optimistic about the future of indie games on playStation — but Garner says the situation isn't much better on other console platforms. "Xbox is a little more open in terms of publicity, and the Switch will give you a place on the list, so it's a little bit better than Sony." But in my opinion, in a world where Steam is leading, everyone is not doing enough."
He said that Neon Doctrine's "Liao Tim Tin: The End of the Dead" will never succeed on Steam on the console platform, and this is due to Steam's algorithms. Garner says he was able to promote and build a community of games, and then Steam's algorithms detected people's interest and helped them promote the game in a targeted manner.
"I want all platforms to come up with ways to make great games stand out on their own, rather than let the people in charge control." He concluded. "If I have a good game that shows that everyone likes it, why do I have to ask an account manager to promote it?"
Anonymous indie developers we interviewed also said that the improvements they made were correct in the short term. But they also pointed out that Sony has always supported independent developers when there is a lack of first-party masterpieces on new consoles, and they will abandon them after the first-party lineup is formed. Like Garner, he believes that the problem of independent manufacturers is not unique to Sony.
"I think it's important to discuss games and the attitudes of big companies towards independent game makers. We, as an industry, can't bring this issue out every few months when something bad happens. While PlayStation is a small step this time, the industry still has a long way to go before indie games can gain the same "rights" from other blockbusters."
Sony rejected IGN's request for comment.