Sony's Pub Fund could earn more "higher quality" PSN releases

Adam Boyes of consultancy firm Beefy Media and formerly of Capcom, has said quality of content over Xbox Live and PlayStation Network has gone up.

Quality control wasn’t all that great in the beginning as both wanted content, but times are changing. The ”majority” of teams are making ”s**y games”.

”I think the quality control of some of those titles early on…” he explained, the platform holders ”wanted content - they wanted a lot of stuff on the channel.” Beefy Media helps devs talk with publishers to get their games onto platforms like XBLA and PSN.

”But as we evolved the games got better - I think Bionic Commando Rearmed was a great example of a game that raised the bar, and then Shadow Complex came out and raised it even more.” The ‘shovelware’ period has ended for the platform holders.

”We saw more and more dollars being spent on the games, so Microsoft wanted to spend more time on fewer titles - but at the same time the blade was getting crowded with the Facebook stuff, Zune stuff, and all of a sudden my content is harder to find, and there’s less of it. It was never really truly transparent to people outside as to why that was happening.”

”I think what we’re seeing is an evolution - people always think they’re going to make great games… but they’re not. The majority of people are making s**y games, so less and less of them are being accepted, and more and more people are getting turned away.”

Of Microsoft and Sony, Boyes has more confidence in Sony and PSN if they continue going after independent studios and reaping rewards like Joe Danger. Their Pub Fund initiative, where Sony will match a studios development costs and guarantee royalties, could seriously help deliver greater quality content for PSN.

”I think Sony right now, if they continue to focus on the indie stuff, more of the Joe Dangers of the world, and the Pub Fund really comes up with some more great content then they could be the ones having more content pumped out that’s higher quality,” continued Boyes.

”It’s really up to the platform owners to find the best stuff and put it up there.” Do you agree that quality on XBLA and PSN has really stepped up since the early days of yore?