Playism


Playism is a digital distribution platform for PC games operated by Active Gaming Media, which was launched in May 2011. It focuses on attracting independent "indie" developers to its platform by offering services like localization, debugging, marketing and publishing for indie developers interested in releasing their games to foreign markets.

Structure

Rather than employing a separate client like Steam, users download purchased games directly from the Playism website. They have also started to distribute on a variety of platforms including Steam, GOG, Gamefly, PlayStation Store, Google Play and iOS. They have also announced that they are planning to bring some titles to PlayStation.
The English Playism site currently accepts PayPal as its payment method, and allows pay what you want, paid, and free games.

History

In April 2013, Playism began a project with HAL College of Technology & Design in both Osaka and Nagoya. The project involves students creating games in four-person teams over a period of several months. The games would then be judged by Playism staff, Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya, Smoking Wolf, and members of Nigoro. The highest-rated games were then localized by Playism, and released on the Playism store page for purchase. Playism was closely involved in the administration of the indie-based game event in March 2013, helping both with translation and interpretation as well as with logistics. In September 2013, Playism collaborated with Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia on an event called Indie Stream. Originally planned by indie developers Nigoro and Nyamyam, Indie Stream was designed to bring indie developers from both Japan and abroad together to meet and share information. It was announced at Indie Stream that Playism would be assisting indie developers in publishing their games on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan.

Notable titles