PlayStation 4 has already secured a strong foundation of indie talent, and with it, a consistent flood of content will persist beyond the console’s launch. Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida and Mark Cerny have discussed the PS4′s ease of development and flow of content in a new Famitsu interview.In the Famitsu article, PS4 lead system architect Mark Cerny said that one of Sony’s key goals is ease of development, and the way studios can build their games on computers first, before transferring them over to the console.
He added, “We asked assorted creators what kind of functionality we should put in, and we used their responses as a base when we finalized the hardware architecture. We’re aiming for not just performance, but also an environment setup that allows for smooth PS4 game development.”
This will certainly help indies tackle the console’s framework and let their creations sing on PS4 without too much hassle. Cerny continued, “”Small-scale projects don’t even take a month [to reach that point], and even big titles can get rolling in two or three months. As a result, I think we’ve built one of the neatest launch lineups in game history.
“With our PS3 experience, we understand the factors needed for powerful, effective development, so that’s why we treated our twin goals of performance and ease of development so seriously. Thanks to that, I think we were able to reduce development time on Knack by around a year.”
When asked if PS4 could face a strong launch line-up, then a subsequent drought of releases post-launch, as with PS3 and PS2, president of SCE Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida explained, “That’s why we’re trying to give our help out to indie titles. Huge titles from large makers take time to develop; they can’t just be brought out immediately. However, with the indie scene, especially in the West, we’re seeing really neat games coming out from there pretty much every week.
“I’d like to get that indie flow going in the Japan market as well, with unique titles coming out one after the other. More and more users are making digital purchases these days, so even studios making games with small teams can make it into a business.”
In closing, Cerny added, “The PS4 is really easy to build games on. I think we’ll see a variety of products coming out from lots of creators. I’m confident that the system will allow many creators to get involved.”
