Sony has announced a pro-indieinvestment plan which will see $20 million dollars go toward funding the development of exclusive PSN titles over the next three years. Revealed today over at theUS PlayStation Blog, the cash will be split amongst Sony's cabal of first-party developers and its Pub Fund, an indie-assistance program set up in 2009 to helpsmaller developersbringnew ideas and innovation to thePlayStation Network.
Above: Minority's Papo & Yo one of first to benefit from Sony's investment
“PlayStation Network is poised to deliver an enviable line-up of exclusive and imaginative games this year, with highly anticipated first-party titles like thatgamecompany’s Journey and PixelJunk Sidescroller,” said Brandon Stander, director of PlayStation Network marketing, SCEA . “We’re doubling down on PlayStation Network software, and under this additional investment over the next three years, we anticipate a steady flow of high-quality titles that can’t be found anywhere else.”
The first games to benefit from the cash injection are Eufloria, an “ambient real-time strategy game” from Omni Systems that was previously released on Steam in 2009; Okabu, a cartoony “hyper-tactile toybox world” experience from the Rolando devs at Hand Circus; PAYDAY: The Heist, Overkill Software's first-person shooter crime game which will support up to three human partners in crime; and Papo & Yo, an atmospheric platformer puzzle game starring a young boy and his giant frog-eating monster from the indie team at Minority.
There's no word yet on when any of these titles will see the light of day, however Papo & Yo has been slapped with a due date of 'TBA 2012'. Read our first-hand impressions of the E3favoritehere.
Jul 13, 2011
Platforming puzzler is charming look at substance abuse
Rolando creators ditching iPads to make PSN game Okabu
Hand Circus deviates from its iOS roots with an exclusive downloadable PS3 game
Eufloria review PC
The pastel presentation masks an ambient, albeit compulsive strategy game
This is why you read Helldivers 2 patch notes closely: a goldfish "was laid to rest" in space where the pressure "caused it to heat up, violently explode, and disintegrate"
Concord development deal reportedly rivaled The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West at $200 million, which Sony has now chucked into a big ol' furnace
