Sony set to publish games for Nintendo Switch and PC under new division

[Cal Jeffrey]

Sony has created a new publishing house under the Sony Music Entertainment arm. The division is called “Unties” and is looking to publish video games for the Switch, PC and PlayStation 4 platforms.

Sony has been somewhat standoffish towards its competitors as of late, especially regarding the allowance of cross-platform play on the PlayStation 4, so it seems a bit strange that they would produce games for Nintendo. However, the decision to publish on the Switch may have more to do with the fact that Sony does not consider it to be a direct competitor to its own console.

The looming discontinuation of Sony handheld gaming systems may also be a contributing factor to the decision. Sony might be looking to stay in the portable market, even if it is only from a software standpoint.

Unties' first title will be Tiny Metal, a tactical war game in the vein of Warbits or Advance Wars, for the Switch, PC and PlayStation 4. It is being developed by indie developer Area 35 and will launch on November 21.

It is not a coincidence that the first game under the Unties label is from an independent developer. According to Sony, that is precisely why the publishing arm was created. The aim is to take the hassle of publishing off the shoulders of independent developers so they can focus on what they do best — making games.

“With the evolution of digital publishing, it has become possible to distribute homebrew titles globally,” says the Unties website. “This has brought forth a trend of indie game development in Europe and the United States.”

Unties wants to leverage the distribution power of Sony Music Entertainment to help smaller studios get noticed. Sony’s goal is not entirely altruistic, however, as Unties will undoubtedly take a cut of the sales (whatever that might be). It actually sounds like it is not too different from the models used by Apple and Google with their app stores.

In addition to Tiny Metal, Unties has announced three other games.

DEEMO Reborn is an action title that will be released on the PS4. The developer, Rayark, says the game will support PSVR. It has released a trailer that includes game engine footage but there is no release date set yet.

Last Standard and Merkava Avalanche are also 3D action titles being developed by IFromJapan and WinterCrownWorks, respectively. Based on the trailers, Last Standard looks to be a weapon fighting game and Merkava Avalanche appears to be a type of mech battling MOBA. Release dates for both games are still pending.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/71442-sony-set-publish-games-nintendo-switch-pc-under.html

 

[J spot]

I miss when exclusives were made by the gaming companies that produced the systems. Now big corporations pay for exclusives, or have independent developers develop games for them.

 

[Puiu]

I miss when exclusives were made by the gaming companies that produced the systems. Now big corporations pay for exclusives, or have independent developers develop games for them.

What are you talking about? It's always been like this.

 

[Reehahs]

Who else is reading the new studio name as 'Undies'?

 

[J spot]

I miss when exclusives were made by the gaming companies that produced the systems. Now big corporations pay for exclusives, or have independent developers develop games for them.

What are you talking about? It's always been like this.

Well, I come from the SNES, Genesis era, before Sony and Microsoft entered the market. And Nintendo and Sega would each develop major titles that could only be played in their systems. Those were the main exclusives. Sure, you had some titles like Final Fight that only came out for the Super Nintendo, but in the main all major 3rd party titles came out for both systems. No Microsoft paying a random company to have a game come out on their system early, and such things. You wouldn't see Nintendo doing that back in those days, since they could just develop games.

 

[Puiu]

Well, I come from the SNES, Genesis era, before Sony and Microsoft entered the market. And Nintendo and Sega would each develop major titles that could only be played in their systems. Those were the main exclusives. Sure, you had some titles like Final Fight that only came out for the Super Nintendo, but in the main all major 3rd party titles came out for both systems. No Microsoft paying a random company to have a game come out on their system early, and such things. You wouldn't see Nintendo doing that back in those days, since they could just develop games.

You have exclusives from 1st party developers today too exactly like Sega and Nintendo were doing back then. Console manufactures are still buying third party studios just like they did in the past. Console manufacturers are still buying exclusivity rights from third party studios. Etc etc... nothing has changed. All that has changed is the size of the market. Subsidiaries are much more common now.

A bigger difference is how they handle these 1st party studios. Most of the time they are not tied directly to the main company but to a subsidiary which makes it look like they're not direct employees of Microsoft and Sony.

 

[ET3D]

Who else is reading the new studio name as 'Undies'?

I was and still am unsure how to read that name. Could sound like 'undies' or 'un-ties'. My initial thought was 'aunties', like your favourite aunts creating games.

 

[pencea]

I miss when exclusives were made by the gaming companies that produced the systems. Now big corporations pay for exclusives, or have independent developers develop games for them.

What are you talking about? It's always been like this.

Well, I come from the SNES, Genesis era, before Sony and Microsoft entered the market. And Nintendo and Sega would each develop major titles that could only be played in their systems. Those were the main exclusives. Sure, you had some titles like Final Fight that only came out for the Super Nintendo, but in the main all major 3rd party titles came out for both systems. No Microsoft paying a random company to have a game come out on their system early, and such things. You wouldn't see Nintendo doing that back in those days, since they could just develop games.

That's still the case. Both Sony and Nintendo still have their own exclusive games that's developed by their own first party studios that can only be played on their systems.