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PSN 'An Almost Complete Failure' and Team Meat Are 'Loud Crybabies,' says Developer

Posted September 30, 2011 by James Brightman

Sony has attacked Microsoft's treatment of developers, and while Team Meat (Super Meat Boy) might agree - noting that they got the short end of the stick from Microsoft - Zen Studios and other indies clearly have a different opinion. IndustryGamers has just heard from Guillaume Boucher-Vidal, Studio Manager at Nine Dots Studio Inc., which is currently working on a title called Brand. Boucher-Vidal doesn't think very highly of PSN or Team Meat.

"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 standards," he commented.

"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."

As for the Team Meat controversy, Boucher-Vidal believes Sony's simply been trying to take advantage of the situation to make Microsoft look bad for developers.

"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," he added.

Are you a developer? What's your take on how Sony and/or Microsoft treat developers and indies? Feel free to contact us.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.