Schafer questions space for smaller studios on next-gen platforms

Double Fine headman and industry icon Tim Schafer has expressed concern regarding whether small studios will have the chance to succeed on next generation consoles.

Speaking with Polygon, Schafer explained he’s unsure if the next-gen space is viable for smaller outfits such as Double Fine – adding that large companies like Sony and Microsoft need to open up their hardware in a way similar to Valve’s Steam platform.

We’d still like to be active in that space, we care about consoles, but unless they open things up a lot more like what we have on Steam… if they opened things up more it would be a more friendly place from our perspective.”

Schafer believes that the representative voice of the little guys are being heard by the big boys; and while its not likely to change overnight, the potential for openness on next-gen systems is still a definite possibility.

We’ve talked to them about this stuff, and you know, they hear us. They’re big companies and they can’t make changes overnight, but I think they’re taking all of that stuff into consideration. We’ll have to see what happens.”