GDC 09: Sony: make games exclusive for PSN, we’ll fund you; launches The Pub Fund

Interesting, but hopefully not sneaky. Really curious, this one is. Sony seems to have been bit by a rather strange generosity bug, launching a new scheme that’s meant to lure developers into creating more games for the PlayStation Network. Not just any devs, but indie ones. Perhaps they were inspired by the success of No Gravity? That’s certainly something to think about.

Interesting, but hopefully not sneaky. Really curious, this one is. Sony seems to have been bit by a rather strange generosity bug, launching a new scheme that’s meant to lure developers into creating more games for the PlayStation Network. Not just any devs, but indie ones. Perhaps they were inspired by the success of No Gravity? That’s certainly something to think about.

Okay, here are the mechanics of this new scheme. All that they are asking of is for devs to create games that will come out exclusively on the PSN. What do the devs get out of this? Financial assistance via the Pub Fund. And there’s more: the IP rights remain with the original creators.

Chris Eden explained at the GDC,

A really important thing to point out is that this is not first-party publishing, this is not Sony buying your product. You’ll be the publisher, you’ll own the IP, and you’ll control your product. This is assisting you to make your next step from developer to publisher.

First to be developed under the Pub Fund system is Burn Zombie Burn, an arcade shooter game from doublesix studios in Britain. All in all, this is sounding like a really great idea from Sony. It’s an X-deal where everyone involved can benefit from. Developers get exposure and expand their portfolio, while Sony delivers on games that are exclusive to them.

If you guys want to check this out, then you’d want to make contact via this email address: devrel-scea@playstation.sony.com. And not to be negative about this, but just make sure you read the fine print of the agreement, okay. Still, good idea right there.

Via Eurogamer