Independent developers: what would make you consider releasing a game on a new console?

Started by nicolasFR02 Aug 29 at 12:41 AM 1 replies 300+ views

Original Post

Aug 29 at 12:41 AM

Hi everyone,

I'm doing a small study about independent game developers and console publishing.

I'm especially interested in solo developers and small studios.

I'd like to understand what would make a new gaming platform genuinely interesting — or completely uninteresting — for indie developers.

For example:

What currently makes console publishing difficult for you?
Development kit cost?
Porting work?
Certification?
Documentation?
Lack of technical support?
Revenue share?
Discoverability?
Marketing?
Physical game production?

If a new console/platform appeared, what would it absolutely need to offer before you would even consider supporting it?

I'm also interested in physical releases. Would having the possibility of releasing your game as a real physical edition be valuable to you, or not particularly?

And for developers of multiplayer games: if official servers were operated for a fixed period and could later be transferred to the developer/community instead of simply being shut down, would that be interesting to you?

I'm not trying to sell anything here. I genuinely want to understand what indie developers need before making technical and business decisions.

Any feedback — positive or negative — is very welcome.

Thanks!

frob

Aug 29 at 5:28 AM

Most solo developers never work with those systems.

For the major consoles, a huge factor is likelihood of bringing the game to market and also expected player response. If the group and/or project doesn't look like it has the financial backing to not just finish the polished game, but also fund marketing and other costs, they won't be approved. If the game has already been a success on PC, comes from a studio with a track record of other successes, or from a group of established industry veterans, they may also be allowed. If they don't think the title fits the console or will have a bad player respond, they won't allow the product.

For developers using the major engines, adding supported platforms is mostly a matter of clicking the platform check boxes, and giving it a localization pass replacing names and images for system specific variants.

For unsupported platforms or games not using the major engines, it will have a long list of development tasks, often intertwined with and expressed as costs.