PlayStation has been working incredibly hard in the indie space over the last few years to address some concerns held by developers about the support from the console manufacturer in bringing their games to the platform, as well as the concerns by fans that they were missing out on indie gems to Xbox or Nintendo. Since the former head of PlayStation Studios, Shuhei Yoshida has transitioned over to the role of Head of Indies, things have begun to turn for the company, and he recently sat down to talk to MCV UK about his indie work, but also what possibilities there are for indies to collaborate with PlayStation’s IP and their first party teams.
Yoshida was presented the recent collaboration between Brace Yourself Games and Nintendo that led to the Legend Of Zelda X Crypt Of The Necrodancer product Cadence Of Hyrule and was asked whether he foresaw similar collaborations happening with PlayStation IP. To this Yoshida said, careful not to overreach given he no longer works as intimately with the first-party studios anymore,
So in my current role, I am not a part of the PlayStation Studios first party team. However, the third party relations team do have a day to day relationship with indie developers. Sometimes they get a proposal or a request to work with a first party team. So in that case, myself or other third party relations account managers take the proposal to PlayStation Studios. So it’s up to the PlayStation Studios team to embark on this. There are many collaborations in terms of IP collaborations, like some first party characters will show up in other companies’ games, so something like that is already happening. Yeah, it’s a very interesting idea. That’s something unique that PlayStation can offer to the indie community.
Following this comment, both God Of War protagonist Kratos, and his presence in Shovel Knight, as well as Yoshida’s personal favourite, Super Time Force, were cited as examples. Of course, it is important to note that both Shovel Knight and Super Time Force are PS3-era titles. No such equivalent experiences have come to the PS4 or PS5 as of yet. Players will at times see teases in their favourite indies, and from time to time the reverse, such as The Last Of Us Part II including someone seated playing Hotline Miami, on a PlayStation Vita, before Ellie brutally ended their play session. Hopoefully we can see some more indie X AAA collaborations with PlayStation in the future.
