Sony to host quarterly indie developer events

Microsoft may have finally embraced indies with the Xbox One, but Sony is again one-upping them by announcing plans to host quarterly indie developer events.

The events will be used as an opportunity to inform developers on latest updates made to the PS4, PS3, and Vita. They will also provide an opportunity for developers to provide feedback on PlayStation Network.

Although the events will be held in Sony's London offices, SCEE senior account manager Agostino Simonetta assured that they would be open to the worldwide development community.

“You know we do these things very regularly with all our partners, but with the indie community, it is so vast and they are spread out, that it is hard for me to go and work with developer days in the Middle East,” Simonetta explained.

“So while we do these things, we want to make sure it is that on a regular basis. With the great success we are having actually of indie developers registering, we are seeing incredible numbers of new companies coming to the platform. There is a real sense that PS4 – and Vita as well, PS3 still has a long life – that this is a great opportunity for them to come back to console.

“We are really accelerating and changing the way we approach this. So before was more of a narrow cast, now there is a real opportunity for us to go what I call broadcast – a lot more visibility to be able to answer the questions."

Sony has made it a point to reach out and embrace indie studios with its systems. Given the company's success with titles like Journey, it's definitely understandable. So why wait until now to hold such events?

"I can tell you I have been there for four years, and one of my colleagues has been in third-party relations for ten years, and we've never seen anything like this. And this is not just PS4, it applies to Vita and PS3 as well," he concluded.

There certainly seems to be a growing interest in Sony's platforms among indie developers. At E3, one of the more memorable moments was when the stage was lined with eight different indie games — all coming to Sony's platforms.

[Develop]