Conversation should be what Sony can do to increase sales and help indies to sell better.
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Nowhere Prophet dev: "Our opening weekend sales on PS4 were 5% of our Switch opening weekend sales"
- Thread starter Lant_War
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the funny thing is unlike the defensive people who think playstation doesn't need indies and people have enough AAA games to not want to bother with indies, sony themselves are focussing on them big time (specially close to the launch of PS5), recently on two occasions they've announced a bunch of them in a day and featured them on their youtube channel, twitter, and blog, and the PS5 showcase had many indie games in it. not to mention most state of plays have had indie games in them. so this is clearly something sony wants to improve.
Beyond this game looking far more suited to Switch (but with the dev claiming sales on Xbox are significantly better it's clear that's not the actual issue) I'm kind of not surprised. Anecdotally I find I never dive in to see what's new for sale on the PSN store these days or play much in the way of indies on the system unless they're really hyped. The only reason I tend to use the PSN store is to check out their sales lately.
Probably speaks to how Sony could do better helping indies market for their system and how they could better surface new releases. The storefront's definitely not great, dominated by larger releases and those with big publisher money. I feel like it takes a lot of button presses to get past all of the big stuff that's in your face to the actual latest releases.
It's a good looking storefront but doesn't seem to do its smaller games any favours.
Probably speaks to how Sony could do better helping indies market for their system and how they could better surface new releases. The storefront's definitely not great, dominated by larger releases and those with big publisher money. I feel like it takes a lot of button presses to get past all of the big stuff that's in your face to the actual latest releases.
It's a good looking storefront but doesn't seem to do its smaller games any favours.
I had given this one a go on game pass, it's really fun. Sad to see so many willingly shitting on it because it fits their personal preference for attacking anything anti their favorite brand/box.
Yeah, not like Switch had a major first party release that same day or anything
Two of the most popular games on the PS5 reveal were indies (Kena and Bugsnax)
This forum never stops to amaze me. Yesterday it was trashing a dev because he said gamepass was doing great for them, now trashing because one dev said the game didn't sell well on PS.
So what are they complaining about exaclty? Sony not supporting indie games enough or the userbase not buying them? Either way, this kind of tweets can't possibly help their case. And i doubt the devs are happy with their publisher tweeting things like "i doubt we'll put any more games in PS4 after this"
This is $33.50 on PS4 and $23 on Switch here. Dumb that Sony wouldn't let them do a launch discount.
Who would be in charge of marketing in a situation like this? Is it on the dev? Do they have a marketing deal with Sony and they didn't follow through? Like a lot of people, I had no idea this game even existed until this thread.
Yep, because they were announced for PS5 would like to see the reception if it was announced as exclusive for one of the other consoles.
On Switch, that's definitely the case, albeit everything is kinda mixed together and the store is really just a big mess that makes discovering stuff difficult. XB1 also tends to support the bigger stuff over indie releases, like Sony, but there sections for indies, if memory serves me right, like Sony
That's normally where I'm at too for most games. Aside from a few series that have proven themselves to me, I usually wait for positive reception, if the game looks cool to me
This feels threadmark-worthy.In regards to Xbox sales, Nowhere Prophet was also included in the Summer Spotlight promotion:
Xbox Sales and Specials | Xbox Canada
Check out Xbox sales and specials, and discover last minute deals on Xbox consoles, games, subscriptions, accessories and more. Shop nowwww.xbox.com
So this game came out a year ago on other platforms and the developers are wondering why it's a dud on the PS4? I mean, if it didn't generate a lot of word-of-mouth prior to it launching on the PS4 then I don't know what they expected. So many factors to consider- it's an old game already available elsewhere, price, genre, greater abundance of quality software to choose from...
Well they used to have Adam Boyes, who was their indie game champion essentially. He was very good at letting people know what was coming, once he left in 2016 it just felt like indies didn't matter to them anymore.
They originally asked Sony to apply a discount but Sony said they were too busy. That is pretty bad and really hurt their launch.
All stores have a big problem with smaller titles being discovered. Steam has been working on a lot of new options to try and "solve" that problem, but it's something that will always be an issue with these small budget releases. Marketing on the platform should be on the platform holder and they should focus on getting more titles discovered not just in sales that they orchestrate.
Same release day as Switch, PS4 and Xbox. Came out on PC a while ago.
Well yeah, we're talking about PS players here. But both are PC day one.
Interesting news considering the market leader discussions we had in the other thread...were people said that Switch couldnt be considered a leader in any way because it doesn't provide a plattform and market where everyone can shine/eat. Even then I said....most or many Indies would disagree. The market is bigger than the AAA space.
So yeah more money is being made with focusing on AAA content for Sony - that doesn't mean it's the best plattform for every kind of game and developer as this news prove.
So yeah more money is being made with focusing on AAA content for Sony - that doesn't mean it's the best plattform for every kind of game and developer as this news prove.
I think the issue are your average indie games that aren't exclusive and get backed by first party marketing. Of course the chosen ones that get Sony spotlight are gonna perform well....but the rest seem to underperform - well at least compared to the other plattforms.
There are a few reasons the game might do worse on PS4 particularly currently -- though judging by Mike saying that he'd already heard it was bad, it indicates that it's a longer running issue -- and reasons that it would do better elsewhere (Switch portability + indie love atm; Xbox w/ Game Pass proving a boon to sales + Summer Spotlight), but just 5% is wild.
nowhere prophet released on all three platforms simultaneously
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Because this information is valuable to his peers / the industry. This isn't some dirty secret or rumor, he's sharing sales numbers. Other indie devs should know that it might not be worth the effort for them to port their titles to an ecosystem where he didn't find success. Is that a universal truth based on his one experience? No. But, his story helps paint the larger picture that is being discussed in this thread about why Playstation isn't the best spot for indies.
I own a ps4 and a switch. I work a shitty job at minimum wage with reduced hours thanks to the corona, idiots not wearing mask and following general advice, and spent $120+tax on GoT and Paper Mario. All I'm saying is that if the game didn't sell well, it's not because ps4 as a platform sucks, and more that there is MULTIPLE marketing factors that take effect on how it preformed.
but please, take this article as ammo for future my plastic box vs your plastic box threads.
Yeah, they should start doing SoP to highlight indies monthly or something. The problem is that people always whine they didn't announced God of War or a new Uncharted.
Yea, Playstation doesn't seem like a great platform for indies. It's so disappointing that Housemarque turned away from making arcade games due to their lack of success on Playstation.
No one in this thread is saying PS4 as a platform sucks, the issues such as they are are all related to audience cultivation. Nothing directly to do with the PS4 itself as much as it comes down to Sony's broader messaging and marketing strategies.
Calm down.
I mean SoP would be a big deal for a non exclusive new indie IP - it's not like Nintendo had the game in a bunch of Directs.
But at least making sure they get the launch discount in would have helped....of course indie games will have trouble selling against a bunch of AAA games by bug publisher for less than 15 bucks.
I downloaded it on PC since it's on Game Pass, but why would I buy it on any platform? At least not until it's maybe 90% off somewhere.
It probably doesn't help that the store navigation on the PS4 is garbage.
"Too busy" to provide a launch discount on a title... tsk tsk, what lame-ass B2B support.
"Too busy" to provide a launch discount on a title... tsk tsk, what lame-ass B2B support.
Yeah if I was that dev I'd feel pretty ticked off by their response
I have to think their games would be extremely successful on other platforms. The quality is definitely there.
The game that convinced them of that realization (Nex Machina) was self-published on Steam and PS4.
Pricing has to be right out of the gate, I mean if you cut the price of you game just after a few weeks that means you misjudged the price of your game. Crazy I couldn't find the game's stats on Steamspy, probably because it's very new and not a lot of activity going on. For all we know the game could sell 5k on the Switch and sold 250 on PS4, and that's low no matter where it is. We need to support indies more across all platforms but they need to price their games right.
Based on what the publisher says, it implies that actual sales have been stronger on Xbox
I think there is a level on which this thread is about how PS4 as a platform might kind of suck for lower profile Indies right now, compared to the alternatives. And I think it's fair and not a real indictment of PS4 itself so much as its approach. "Oh, sure, it did fine on Switch because it looks like a portable game!" and "Oh, sure, it did better on Xbox because GamesPass and they promoted it in one of their summer indie things!" both kind of dance around the issue that those are both things that make those platforms more appealing and rewarding for devs to work on. Like, these aren't one-off freak occurrences and things that will stop being advantages elsewhere when the PS4 isn't dropping TLoUII and GoT--Switch will always be a more rewarding place of things you want portable. GamePass looks to continue to be a nice way to boost Indies for the foreseeable future, and MS is likely to keep doing spotlights of indie titles. It's just kind of weird watching people use those two things to hand-wave away the issue, when they seem to literally spotlight why PS4 for indie devs might be so unrewarding as to be not worth it. The Switch situation is enough to put the PS4 and Switch in different 'lanes' for Indies, but the Xbox comparison literally seems to be: Pfft of course it sold better on Xbox, Xbox has an ecosystem set up that supports Indies better. Which, yeah, that's the point, and what Sony might want to consider addressing long-term if they're interested in remaining as a constant target for indie development.
Yeah, this is kind of ridiculous. Nicole is a game released last week with a discount. Sounds like they got an asshole rep from Sony.
Xbox Game Pass is doing great with day one indie releases. I think Sony should try to do the same with PlayStation Now. Shu already said an indie title would be added to the service monthly, but I am hoping it is more new games as compared to July's addition of Hello Neighbor. Would be pretty cool to see Bugsnax, Kena, and Stray launch on the service.
Yeah, I agree with everything you said. There's a legitimate discussion to be had about Sony's broad long term strategy to inculcate interest in indies among their audience, but that's getting lost in the overly defensive posturing and fanboy shit slinging we have going on instead.
This thread is crazy.
"the game sucks, so makes sense"
"Xbox has no games to play, so that's why".
Just blatant console warring, pretty ridiculous.
Sony used to be the bastion for indie games earlier in the generation. That role has switched with the very large success of ID@Xbox.
"the game sucks, so makes sense"
"Xbox has no games to play, so that's why".
Just blatant console warring, pretty ridiculous.
Sony used to be the bastion for indie games earlier in the generation. That role has switched with the very large success of ID@Xbox.
This is a good post.
Maybe if Sony wants to highlight indies, they can make a Indies section in the PS Store. When you go to it, you see numerous indie games highlighted in a similar way to the What's Hot section. They have something like this now with PlayStation Indies, but I feel a general section would help instead of picking and choosing.
I said it before in the thread earlier, but only trending or popular games will show up front and center in the store, especially if one only looks at the What's Hot/Trending pages and the sales pages.
Hopefully with Yoshida in charge of indies, there will be a change for indie devs.
Literally never heard of this before seeing it on gamepass. It's fun. Switch is probably a better fit.