Denny: ‘Future innovation will be server-side’

SCE Worldwide Studios Europe VP Michael Denny said today that he expects a large amount of future innovation will take place on the server-side.

Speaking in his keynote at the Develop in Liverpool conference today, Denny explained that Sony Worldwide Studios looks for three things in external projects: quality, relevance, and innovation.

On the innovation front, Denny broke it down into three sub-categories: ‘Big I’ innovation (big revolutions such as LittleBigPlanet’s embrace of user-generated content, or Eyetoy Play’s use of the camera as an interface), ‘little i’ innovation (evolutionary iterations on features) and technical innovation.

"I think a lot of future innovation will be on the server side," said Denny. "But it’ll need to stay relevant to the consumer if it’s to be successful," – in a sense, not innovation for innovation’s sake, but things that really make a difference to the play experience for the users.

Relevance plays a part in the green-light process at SCE WWS in other ways, too: Denny explained that the publisher feels games should either appeal to as wide an audience as possible, or ensure that it’s extremely relevant to a targeted audience.