Sony has just announced Unties, a new label which will focus on bringing indie games to different platforms. Unties was created under the Sony Music Entertainment division, which will allow them to bring indie games to non-Sony platforms, including the Switch.
It won’t be long before we start seeing titles published under Unties. Their first game, Tiny Metal, is a turn-based military strategy game.
From the official site:
Outfight the enemy with your own army of foot soldiers, tanks, helicopters, tactical vehicles, and fighter jets. Capture rival territories and extend your military power over the sprawling map of Zipang. Follow the gripping story of Nathan Gries and answer for yourself what is, and what isn’t, worth fighting for.
Tiny Metal releases this November 21 for Switch, PS4, and PC.
They also has plans to publish Last Standard, a strategic 3D action game that profiles players’ personalities. From the Steam Greenlight page, it sounds like the game will gather data from Twitter profiles to customize weapons for the player. In addition, Unties will also publish Merkava Avalanche, a mecha action game, and Deemo Reborn, a PlayStation VR title. These games currently do not have release dates yet.
By the looks of it, Unties is focusing heavily on Japanese indie games. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues. Nonetheless, giving smaller titles a chance to see a larger audience is an admirable cause. While it does seem strange that Sony is publishing games for rival consoles, using the Sony Music branch over the SIE/PlayStation branches allows these indie games to reach more platforms.