Iain Garner, a co-founder of Neon Doctrine, took to Twitter to vent anger at Sony, who appears to charge at least £18,000 ($25,000) for visibility on the PlayStation Store.
Garner never explicitly states that Sony is the target of his tweets, instead referring to “Platform X”, which is the “operator of a very successful console and does not have Game Pass”. This and subsequent tweets make it clear he is talking about PlayStation.
During the chain of Tweets, Garner states that PlayStation requires devs to jump through hoops, beg and plead for any level of promotion. Some of these hoops include creating a trailer specifically for PlayStation, writing a blog post, and submitting forms for social media.
OK. I am mad enough to burn some bridges. Because honestly, what's the point of a bridge that I am not allowed to cross.
So here is a thread about Platform X. I will not be defining Platform X but it's the operator of a very successful console and does not have Games Pass! pic.twitter.com/OJ2ZJz9BNy
— Iain Garner (@NeonIain) June 30, 2021
If developers cannot complete any of the specified steps, then there is a way to guarantee that your game is featured on the storefront. Garner claims this figure is $25,000 and 30 per cent of subsequent earnings.
Garner also details how difficult it can be for an indie dev to maintain sale parity with PlayStation and other storefronts. While Xbox and Steam often allow for launch sales, Sony limits discounting games to an invite-only system, with Garner claiming these invites are “very limited”.
This also causes problems when other platforms offer discounts outside of the launch period. If a game is cheaper on other services, then getting the same discount applied on the PlayStation store is seemingly impossible for small developers. This means that PlayStation users are likely always getting the worst price.
Garner ends the tweets with a message to gamers. “Next time you’re unhappy about your game never being discounted on Platform X or a game you want not launching on Platform X, Please go and complain to Platform X.”
Borderlands 3 recently received crossplay support, but not for Playstation consoles.
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