Sony Computer Entertainment America is moving beyond the cyber attack that caused its PlayStation Network to be offline for over a month and compromised personal data from tens of millions of gamers’ personal data. The company has invested $20 million over the next three years to develop original games for its online network, which reaches over 77 million users online.

The investment is being divided into two categories. Sony will use some of the funds to create internally developed games that will be digitally distributed online. Payday: The Heist, which puts players in the role of a hardened career criminal, is the first game being developing internally through this program. Sony has also established a Pub Fund, which will seed independent game developers and allow them to bring their game ideas to PlayStation 3 gamers. Eufloria, Okabu, and Papo & Yo are the first three Pub Fund games.

“We’re working with small and entrepreneurial developers who have great vision and artistic style and giving them funding to bring their original games to PSN, which in turn allows us to have games that can’t be found anywhere else,” said Brandon Stander, director of PlayStation Network marketing, Sony.

PlayStation Network has had great success with their line of exclusive titles, with several among the highest rated on the platform, including Joe Danger, Critter Crunch, Flower and the PixelJunk series. 

Sony helps with game design and marketing plans but allows the developer to own the game’s intellectual property, publish the title and set the price. The first game developed and released under this model was Burn, Zombie, Burn!, and the program continues to gain traction with the independent developers behind the upcoming which garnered several accolades at the recent E3 Expo.

“PlayStation Network is poised to deliver an enviable line-up of exclusive and imaginative games this year, with highly anticipated first-party titles like thatgamecompany’s Journey and PixelJunk Sidescroller,” said Stander. “We’re doubling down on PlayStation Network software, and under this additional investment over the next three years, we anticipate a steady flow of high-quality titles that can’t be found anywhere else.”

Upcoming PlayStation Network exclusive titles that are a part of this innovative portfolio include:

Eufloria is an addictive ambient game of space exploration and conquest, plant growth and bio mechanical evolution, where players can conquer asteroids in deep space and use their resources to literally grow and nurture semi-organic plants and creatures to do your bidding.

Okabu is a brand-new action-puzzler from the creators of Rolando, where players will guide Kumulo, Nimbe and four cloud-flying heroes as they battle to save their people and their world from the industrialized threat of the Doza. Gamers will dive into a hyper-tactile toybox world filled with a huge number of puzzles, playthings, adorable creatures and devious machines spread across an epic co-op campaign.

PAYDAY: The Heist is an action-filled first-person shooter game that lets players take on the role of a hardened career criminal executing intense, dynamic heists in constant pursuit of the next “big score”.   Players will navigate diverse urban settings with three partners in crime—controlled by either AI or in co-op multiplayer—and will load out with an array of weaponry and equipment as they embark on a spectacular crime spree through six high-stake heists, including banks robberies, prisoner extractions and armored car hijackings.

Pabo & Yo – This game incorporates the personal story of the developer, allowing players explore a magical surrealist world. The player has a companion, a giant creature named Monster, who helps him. But adding a twist to the gameplay, Monster is addicted to poisonous frogs and when he eats them he goes in an uncontrollable rage.

About the Author

John Gaudiosi

Editor-in-Chief

John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.