Sony Computer Entertainment Further Strengthens Its Support For The Independent Development Community For PlayStation®4

TOKYO, March 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that it would further strengthen its support for the independent development community by introducing more tool and middleware solutions for the PlayStation®4 (PS4™) computer entertainment system. Since the launch of PS4, SCE has introduced a wide variety of hardware and software tools to improve efficiency in game development for PS4, and the company will continue its effort to support the growing game development community.

SCE has entered into a strategic partnership to bring native solutions from popular middleware vendor GameMaker™:Studio from YoYo Games, and the company also announced that MonoGame would become available for the PS4 software title development, further expanding its already robust set of development tools available for the global gaming development community. The company also announced that fully integrated solutions for Unity from Unity Technologies are now available for the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) and PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) systems, with the highly anticipated early access version for PS4 coming in April 2014. Unity, GameMaker:Studio and MonoGame represent the most popular game development tools leveraged by universities and independent developers alike for prototyping and full scale product development.

"SCE is an immense supporter of the indie movement within the game industry and is constantly collecting feedback on how to make things easier for developers. It became abundantly clear within the development community that these broad sets of tools and specific middleware solutions are in high-demand," said Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "We are pleased to provide these powerful tools to developers and add even more flexibility and development options for game developers around the world, and we know that PlayStation gamers will be thrilled to play the games that will come to our platforms as a result of these partnerships."

Jointly developed by SCE and YoYo Games, a GameMaker:Studio native solution for PS4 is now available free for all SCE-licensed developers, making it even easier for developers to bring their 2D games to the more than 6 million gamers worldwide that own PS4 systems. Renowned and beloved games popularized on PC like Hyper Light Drifter by Heart Machine, Samurai Gunn by Teknopants, Risk of Rain by Hopoo Games, Home by Benjamin Rivers and Nuclear Throne by Vlambeer are now able to more efficiently convert their titles for release on PS4 as a result of GameMaker:Studio's native export capabilities.

MonoGame makes up the C#-based open sourced engine suite available for licensed developers. MonoGame was first used in the development of indie darling Matt Makes Games' acclaimed Towerfall: Ascension for PS4 and will also help to bring anticipated titles Mercenary Kings by Tribute Games and Transistor by Supergiant Games to PS4 in the upcoming months.

SCE newly announced the release of its powerful game development tool, Authoring Tools Framework (ATF), as a free, open source download from the popular GitHub hosting site. SCE's ATF is widely used within SCE to develop popular software titles including blockbusters The Last of Us™ and Beyond: Two Souls™ (SCE Worldwide Studios)^*1. SCE's ATF is now joined by these tool and middleware solutions and SCE's graphics-rendering engine known as the PhyreEngine™, used in the development of the anticipated upcoming PS4 title Secret Ponchos by Switchblade Monkeys, as SCE-sponsored development tools available for all licensed developer partners.

SCE continues to set a high benchmark across the industry for working with the global development community to bring some of the world's greatest and most innovative games to PlayStation platforms, including improved processes, as well as flexible and extensive resource support. With more than 100 games in development for PS4 from independent developers and more than 1,000 licensed self-publishers, PS4 will continue to be the most appealing platform for both developers and gamers. With more and more new and exciting PS4 titles scheduled for release this year from third party developers and publishers including the independent development community as well as from SCE Worldwide Studios, SCE will deploy various measures to further reinforce game development for PS4 and will continue to expand the platform to offer attractive interactive entertainment experiences only possible on PS4.

For more information about developing games for PlayStation platforms, the tools and middleware available and our support of the development community, please visit us.playstation.com/develop.

*1 SCE's ATF is used to develop games for PS4, PS3, PS Vita and PSP®(PlayStation®Portable) games.

About Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Recognized as a global leader and company responsible for the progression of consumer-based computer entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) manufactures, distributes, develops and markets the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system, the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system, the PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) portable entertainment system and the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system. SCEI has revolutionized home entertainment since it launched PlayStation® in 1994. PlayStation®2 further enhanced the PlayStation® legacy as the core of home networked entertainment. PSP broadens the entertainment experiences into the portable arena. PS3 is a computer entertainment system that incorporates the powerful Cell Broadband Engine and RSX processors. PS Vita is an ultimate portable entertainment system that offers a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity. PlayStation®4 redefines rich and immersive gameplay with powerful graphics and speed, intelligent personalization and deeply integrated social capabilities. PSN^SM, that includes PlayStation®Store, delivers unparalleled online gaming experience to PlayStation users. SCEI also delivers the PlayStation experience to open operating systems through PlayStation®Mobile, a cross device platform. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, SCEI, along with its affiliated companies, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd., and its division company, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia, develops, publishes, markets and distributes hardware and software, and manages the third party licensing programs for these platforms in their respective markets worldwide.

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SOURCE Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.