Format-holder exploring ways to attract the best smaller independent and hobbyist developers
Sony has revealed to Develop that it could soon offer its PSP software development kits completely free of charge.
The revelation comes just months after the company slashed the price of its PSP SDK by as much as 80 per cent.
In an interview with Develop, Sony Europe’s Zeno Colaco was asked how the PSP’s new Minis scheme could draw developers away from making iPhone games, seeing as Apple is openly offering its iPhone SDKs for free.
“Further down the line, we may investigate a totally free model or supported model,” replied Colaco.
However, the SCEE head of developer relations suggested that the free dev kit model is not something that platform holders should rush into, and will presently concentrate on establishing a good portfolio of games.
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A current PSP SDK will set developers back $1500, while an iPhone SDK is free to play with but is tagged with a $99 publishing fee.
However, despite these higher costs, Colaco believes that Sony offers developers a better chance for success (and stability) than its newest rival.
More on that story here, or you can read the full interview here.
On one hand, the pricey dev kit is like keeping the paint brushes out of the hands of talented artists, but on the other hand, it's like keeping a loaded gun out of the hands of an idiot.
When you see the kind of thing that makes it onto the Apple store, and even worse, what makes it onto the Indie Games section on XBLA, you realise that "open house", isn't necessarily a good thing.
I would much rather them go for a policy of a lower priced dev kit, but a "prove yourself" method of dev status request. This would be where a team/individual had to prove their commitment to releasing good quality software, worthy of the platform, with a fully documented design and submission document. If the document was approved, then the application would be verified against that document upon submission. If the app/game was not of the standard/quality indicated by the document, then they would lose the ability to submit for publishing, until it did so. This would get rid of the "let's throw some pictures into a viewer and call it a game" problem the Apple Store and Indie Games has.
If they don't weed out the rubbish, then they'll lose control very quickly and it will end up as Apple Store 2.
I wouldn't want to trust Sony in being able to recognize talent on the basis of a game document. Good initial documents (i.e. pitch documents) are never representative of the final game. After all, the best designs just "emerge" from a good designer trying things and playing with sets of rules. They're usually no relation to how they started the process, and what resulted.
But I agree Sony need to find a balance here. Their previous attempts at it have never worked though (pub fund, et al) so I'm not holding out hope. It just sounds like they're trying to pro-long the life of the PSP...
...I thought it was dead already.
I've been in development for over 20 years now and in my experience it's only ever those who fear competition that try to stop others entering the field.
The usual cry is "We shouldn't allow everyone to play because it lowers the bar". What they really meran is that we should restrict access because they might not be able to compete with so many people in the room!
While the iPhone SDK kit is free and you have the $99 publishing fee, one should not forget the cost of an actual iPhone/iPod and MAC. The sdk runs on OSX, so you will be sure to have a MAC available if you do not already have it. While you may be able to develop and test with the iPhone emulator on your PC it is better to test with the actual hardware and it is best not to use your own hardware.
The costs may not be more than the PSP dev kit, it is something people should keep in mind.
