Developer believes PSN ‘An Almost Complete Failure’ regarding its sales
Xbox 360 developer Nine Dots Studio Inc has branded the PlayStation Network an almost complete failure regarding the PlayStation 3′s online service. Additionally, the studio has called Super Meat Boy developer, Team Meat, ‘loud crybabies’.
Speaking to IndustryGamers, Guillaume Boucher-Vidal, the Studio Manager at Nine Dots Studio Inc., stated:
Microsoft’s XBLA is very strict, and their technical requirements represent about 800 man hours from the programming team to adapt to. PSN doesn’t have those kind of requirements, but at the same time, PSN is an almost complete failure in regards to sales, so they have to find a way to cater to developers somehow, and they do so by having very low standard.
I’ve quit Activision a few months ago and I am now working on a game that will be submitted on either XBLIG or XBLA. My personal experience with them is very positive so far. There is no chance in hell that PlayStation would offer a platform that is as open as Xbox Live Indie Games. The test kits for PlayStation are also something way beyond what a start up could afford, so their accessibility is a moot point if you don’t have significant funding. So while you have very strict requirements for XBLA, it’s a very successful platform in terms of sales and consistency, and there’s a lot of freedom on XBLIG.
The developer also commented on Team Meat, the studio behind Xbox Live Arcade hit Super Meat Boy.
I think that the Super Meat Boy’s team is just being loud crybabies and Sony wants to use their recent noise to stand out as the good guy. But among a lot of people I know in the indie community, SMB is perceived very negatively for their childish and egocentric behavior.
If the PlayStation Network were a complete failure regarding its sales, then why would developers keep creating titles for the service? It seems like another case of speaking bad of Sony in order to satisfy Microsoft. And in addition to that, the developer also slates of a fellow studio? Regardless of what a company’s history entails, you certainly shouldn’t call out fellow developers in what seems like a case of pleasing Microsoft.
