So, a fellow Argentine indie dev I know commented on Facebook that Sony doesn't accept developer applications coming from our country...
Really, I don't know what kind of issues console manufacturers might be running into that prevents them from accepting applications from us, but it feels ridiculously unfair. I mean, I'd be willing to spend money to get a dev kit shipped to me, pay for the hefty customs fees that would probably show up as I went to pick the package up, and then try to find a way to get paid if I get a game published, even if it means converting the dollars I'd be getting into pesos at the official conversion rate (which I'd be fine with)... but Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft don't even give me the chance to do so.
Thankfully, the indie community in my country is growing stronger, and it seems government-related entities are finally starting to look at videogames, rather than focusing on IT and ignoring them entirely. Daniel Benmergui's been a huge help to the community by bringing known people related to game development to talks and expositions, such as Tim Schafer, Lee Petty, Johnathan Blow, James Portnow, Zach Gage, ACE team (the Chilean game dev studio behind Zeno Clash and Rock of Ages), Ron Carmel, Nathan from Capy Games, Raph Koster, and many others, as well as lots of local devs. Then there's also a bunch of other people that work hard to organize game jams, competitions and other events too grow the community, which is great as well... I only wish the rest of the world would give us a chance now that digital distribution has made things way easier for the developers, the publishers and the distributors.
