Sony creates Unties, a publishing label that will release Switch games

By Gabe Gurwin Published October 17, 2017

Over the past few years, Sony has been hyper-focused on releasing games for its PlayStation 4 console, all but abandoning the PlayStation Vita and even the PC, but that is about to change. The company has announced a new publishing label that will release games for not just the PlayStation 4 and PC, but also the Nintendo Switch.

The label, called “Unties,” exists as a branch of Sony Music Entertainment rather than Sony Interactive Entertainment, and will serve small development teams looking to get their games to a wider audience. The first game releasing under the Unties name is Tiny Metal, a strategy game coming to PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

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The strategy game is unique in placing anime character designs in a 3D world that is almost toy-like in appearance. It’s the second project in production at Area 35, a studio run by director Hiroaki Yura. The studio had previously raised more than $1 million on Kickstarter to fund another strategy game called Project Phoenix, with an estimated release date of November 2014. Yura said in an update that Tiny Metal used much of the same development team as the other game, but the funding it received would enable them to complete it.

Sony’s decision to release a game on Switch could indicate that the company is willing to begin loosening restrictions. Currently, cross-play isn’t enabled between PlayStation 4 and Switch, while Microsoft, by contrast, allows Switch and Xbox One players to compete together online. Back in September, cross-play between Xbox One and PlayStation 4 users was unintentionally turned on, which Epic Games called a “configuration issue.” Most players wouldn’t call it an issue at all, and the systems are clearly in place for it to be made permanent should Sony change its mind.

Further down the line, the 3D action game Last Standard will be released by Unties for PC, with a possible release on other platforms as well — it’s being developed by college students and its weapons will each have their own unique “personality.” Other projects include the robot survival game Merkava Avalanche, also just announced for PC thus far, and the VR game Deemo Reborn, which is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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