Sony's indie initiative: How the hardware giant is courting small-team talent

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First and foremost, Sony is simplifying the process for independent developers to self-publish on both Vita and PS4. This simple matter was enough to lure Divekick developer Adam Heart to the Vita, even before Sony decided to bestow its Pub Fund safety net upon it (for the uninitiated, the Pub Fund is an advance against royalties, ensuring the developer gets a nice, fat paycheck independently of whether the game sells). "We went with Sony because they let us self publish," says Heart. "The pub fund agreement came later."

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That's all well and good, but Steam also lets developers self-publish. As does Apple. As does Nintendo now on Wii U. What else has Sony got to give it that special edge? According to SCEA VP of developer and public relations, Adam Boyes, the secret is simple: it listens to developers. "It's talking directly [to developers], it's listening to them, it's caring what they have to say, and then it's actually taking that feedback and applying it to improving things," explains Boyes at GDC

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Similarly, Nellen says he pitched Metrico to Microsoft over a year and a half ago, but the Xbox 360 publisher dragged its heels and eventually flaked out. "Microsoft was interested and we got to speak to one of the producers of Xbox Live Arcade," explains Nellen. "We were like 'Wow! This is the first pitch we've done and it went really well and they're enthusiastic.' And we met them again and this guy said 'maybe we can even do a little funding to get you to make a better prototype so we can get you a better offer,' and we were all really excited. But after that it was just hard to get a hold of them. "It was very disappointing, especially at that point because Xbox Live Arcade was still where the big indie games came out. It's not like that anymore."

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