PSN has been getting quite a bit of attention as of late for the quality of its service, as well as the large amount of high quality, innovative content. But there’s one aspect of PSN that doesn’t get as much media attention, but makes all the difference for game developers, and that’s Community.
Not just leaderboards or in-game voice chat. But actual lines of communication between gamers and developers. According to Doublesix studio boss James Brooksby, PSN has allowed developers to get much closer to their audience, and build content that is tailormade for that audience.
Though Doublesix, developers of Burn Zombie Burn, have experience working with both Xbox Live and PSN, Sony’s service as given them some critical advantages. Brooksby spoke at the BAFTA digital distribution panel last night, and this is what he had to say:
“There are different models for different platforms. South Park we’re making for Microsoft, and that’s a relationship where they are working on almost a standard model. We’re developing it for them and it’s their relationship to take to the consumer and carry on.
With Burn Zombie Burn for PSN the relationship we have is different. Sony sees itself much more as a channel, they have a store and they take a percentage for providing that channel, but you have a great deal more you can do within that channel. There are some very interesting models we can do in that space.”
The first patch for Burn Zombie Burn served as a good case study for how to incorporate user feedback directly into in-game features and content. Brooksby continued by saying:
“We listened to what people were saying and when we do our first patch it will have features that people have asked for. And then we do our first expansion pack it’s actually tailored according to what people are looking for.”
It’s great to hear that Sony is encouraging such a close relationship between developers and gamers, and we’ll be sure to bring you more feedback from developers on PSN and PS3. Until next time, stay tuned on PSLS for more updates.
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