DrinkBox co-founder Graham Smith believes exclusives are necessary for each respective next-gen console.
At the start of the current generation of consoles - and every generation prior to this - games consoles were focused on producing exclusive content for their systems.
As the cost of game development increased, however, once exclusive system sellers such as Final Fantasy and Metal Gear stopped picking favourites and became multiplatform.
DrinkBox Studios co-founder Graham Smith told us in an interview that - for next-gen consoles to succeed - it is important that Sony and Microsoft secure "desirable exclusives".
"I’m really curious what Microsoft’s strategy is going to be with their next generation console," said Smith. "Sony seems to be pushing things farther on the social side and connectivity with the PS4, which I do think is a really cool direction to be taking."
Smith continued, however, explaining how exclusives are necessary for both the PS4 and the Xbox 720.
"To really be a success, I think they each need to secure desirable exclusive content for their systems that take advantage of the next-gen features they are offering."
Though DrinkBox Studios has produced games largely for the PS3 and PS Vita, this isn't a guarantee of exclusivity going forward.
"We don’t actually have any objection to releasing on other platforms. When we were initially pitching Guacamelee! to publishers, we were thinking to release the game on PS3/X360/PC.
"After Sony approached us with a Pub Fund deal for the game, we decided to take the deal and switched to PS3 and PS Vita for the initial release."
When asked if indies could have a hard time getting noticed once next-gen comes around, Smith disagreed, adding that there's always room for improvements, even in the indie scene.
"I think that indies will still find a way to make use of the new hardware capabilities of the PS4. We actually did have to cut back on some of the things we were doing in About a Blob and Guacamelee! on PS3 for performance reasons.
"PS4 will allow us to push things further in our games as well (eg Physics, Effects, number of AI’s, etc)."
And though DrinkBox has nothing confirmed for next-gen consoles yet, Smith admits that he is personally interested in the PS4.
"I think the PS4 event came at a great time for Sony," he said, "and I’m personally really excited for the system. The Vita Remote-Play for all PS4 titles feature is one that I know I will take real advantage of."
We spoke to Graham Smith as part of a look at DrinkBox Studio's recent success of Guacamelee, and what it means to be an indie developer.
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