Even after the great PSN debacle of 2011, it looks like Sony has some extra change left in their pocket. Today Sony announced a three-year, $20 million dollar investment plan to support PSN exclusives and Pub Fund; a program that helps indie developers create innovative, exclusive titles for PSN. The Pub Fund program was announced in 2009 at GDC with the goal of providing an additional development budget for developers that create PSN exclusives.
In the program, SCEA helps with game design and marketing, but allows the developer to keep IP rights, set the price, and publish the title. Burn, Zombie, Burn! was the first game released with Pub Fund assistance and several new games are on the way such as Eufloria, Okabu, and Papo & Yo. Brandon Stander, director of PSN marketing, had this to say:
PlayStation Network is poised to deliver an enviable line-up of exclusive and imaginative games this year, with highly anticipated first-party titles like thatgamecompany’s Journey and PixelJunk Sidescroller. We’re doubling down on PlayStation Network software, and under this additional investment over the next three years, we anticipate a steady flow of high-quality titles that can’t be found anywhere else.
With the freedom Sony allows under this program, I can only see it as a good thing. Only time will tell what developers will actually take advantage of it. Here are a few descriptions of upcoming titles you can expect to see out of this program:
Eufloria is an addictive ambient game of space exploration and conquest, plant growth and bio mechanical evolution, where players can conquer asteroids in deep space and use their resources to literally grow and nurture semi-organic plants and creatures to do your bidding.
Okabu is a brand-new action-puzzler from the creators of Rolando, where players will guide Kumulo, Nimbe and four cloud-flying heroes as they battle to save their people and their world from the industrialized threat of the Doza. Gamers will dive into a hyper-tactile toybox world filled with a huge number of puzzles, playthings, adorable creatures and devious machines spread across an epic co-op campaign.
PAYDAY: The Heist is an action-filled first-person shooter game that lets players take on the role of a hardened career criminal executing intense, dynamic heists in constant pursuit of the next “big score”. Players will navigate diverse urban settings with three partners in crime-controlled by either AI or in co-op multiplayer-and will load out with an array of weaponry and equipment as they embark on a spectacular crime spree through six high-stake heists, including banks robberies, prisoner extractions and armored car hijackings.
Papo & Yo is a vibrant, 3D Puzzle-Platforming Adventure coming to PlayStation Network in 2012. As a young boy named Quico, players will travel through a magical, surrealist world, solving puzzles with the help of a huge creature named Monster who has a dangerous problem: he’s addicted to poisonous frogs. The minute he spies one, he’ll scarf it down and fly into a violent, frog-induced rage where no one, including his best friend Quico, is safe. Players will have to learn to use Monster’s varying emotions to their advantage if they want to find a cure and save their pal.
