PlayStation Indies seeks to address a major oversight in the PS4 catalog: the PlayStation platform has always excelled when it comes to big exclusive titles, but when it comes to creative indie titles, there have been few hits.

The new PlayStation Indies initiative seeks to change that. The program helps developers create and port games for the PlayStation platform, and the first nine games announced seem to be a diverse mix of genres and styles.

The information comes from the official PlayStation Blog, where Shuhei Yoshida, former head of Sony Interactive Studios and now head of PlayStation Indies, talks briefly about the goals of the program and the nine games themselves

"The indie community is becoming increasingly important to the future of the video game industry as the development of AAA games becomes much tougher financially and large companies are less willing to take risks investing in new concepts that may or may not work," Yoshida He wrote, "We believe that indie developers with a strong vision will continue to offer unprecedented ideas, create entirely new genres of games, and advance the art and meaning of video games."

He then explained that PlayStation has always taken risks with unusual concepts, such as PaRappa the Rapper, Katamari Damacy, LittleBigPlanet, and Journey. With the exception of Journey, however, these games were not technically "indie" productions.

Yoshida only stated that the ultimate goal of PlayStation Indies is to "make PlayStation the best place to develop, find, and play great indie games," but he did not clarify how the program would work. He did not specify how the program would work.

The first nine games in the program are as follows:

A sizzle reel of the titles has also been released:

It is worth noting that this initiative does not necessarily mean that the PS5 will be a haven for indie titles. Of the nine games announced, only four ("Worms," "Haven," "Recompile," and "Heavenly Bodies") are confirmed for release on Sony's next console. However, all nine will be released on PS4, and many will also be released on PC.

In addition, the PlayStation Now streaming service will slowly but steadily release at least one indie title each month, starting with "Hello Neighbor" in July. This is an unusual stealth game about an eccentric neighbor and the secrets he keeps.

The PC, Switch, and Xbox One have long welcomed indie titles with open arms. But PlayStation Indies is a great place to start.