The Wall Street Journal has published an article today about Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5 system. The gist of it is that Sony is strengthening its ties with big third party publishers in an effort to combat the next Xbox system from Microsoft. This means more exclusive deals on AAA third party games on PS5 and exclusive DLC content is on the way, which clearly costs a lot of money. Sony is now causing alarm amongst smaller developers as according to the Wall Street Journal they are putting all their money into the large developers and do not have the resources to help the smaller studios as they did at the PS4 launch.

Sony is concentrating its attention on large software publishers as it gets ready for the next PlayStation, according to executives at Sony and software makers. In general, publishers want their games on multiple platforms to maximize sales, while console makers look to make deals for exclusive content or an initial period of exclusive sales.

Some executives at smaller game makers say they have felt snubbed by Sony, in contrast to Nintendo. At the Tokyo Game Show in September, Nintendo is supporting events to showcase independent game developers. Sony used to do the same, but isn’t planning to this year, the first Sony official said. Sony still welcomes games from independent studios, the first Sony official said, but the emphasis is on strengthening relationships with large publishers since resources are limited. The thinking is, the official said, that people buy a console to play high-quality games available only on that platform, not smaller games also available on smartphones.



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