AfterDawn: News

Sony cuts price of PS3 development kit

Sony Computer Entertainment has cut the cost of the PlayStation 3 development kit by 80 percent, from $10,000 USD to $2000 USD.

"With more and more new and exciting PS3 titles scheduled for release this year from third-party developers and publishers as well as from SCE Worldwide Studios," the company added, "SCEI will deploy various measures to further reinforce game development for PS3 and will continue to expand the platform to offer attractive interactive entertainment experiences only available on PS3."



Initially, the development kit cost $20,000 USD but the price was halved in late 2007.

While this move wont make a difference to large publishers, small independent developers should be very excited for the price drop which will allow them to finally see the PS3 as a viable alternative.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 24 Mar 2009 17:01

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• 10 comments

• narmo

  What small time developers have games that are worth buying?
  
  What's the price of the Xbox 360 dev kit?
  
  What about the Nintendo Wii dev kit?
  
  Just wondering.

  24.3.2009 17:10 #1

• shummyr

  Cool I Should Buy 1 Now

  24.3.2009 17:53 #2

• MrXenu

  Quote:What small time developers have games that are worth buying?
  
  What's the price of the Xbox 360 dev kit?
  
  What about the Nintendo Wii dev kit?
  
  Just wondering. All I know is that, its a pretty bad dev kit, nothing like the PS2's one. Its difficult to use and not that great comapred to competitors.
  
  It probably still makes the wii and 360 more viable for small devs, cause of port costs!

  24.3.2009 18:24 #3

• gleone

  Looks like Sony is doing everything they can to keep PSN FREE for the consumer and at the same time make it as easy as possible for developers.
  
  Good Job Sony!
  
  PS3 Rules!

  25.3.2009 00:15 #4

• gleone

  Originally posted by MrXenu:
  All I know is that, its a pretty bad dev kit, nothing like the PS2's one. Its difficult to use and not that great comapred to competitors.
  
  It probably still makes the wii and 360 more viable for small devs, cause of port costs!Actually, PS3 dev kit allows development of all systems at once (PC/PS3/360). 360 Dev kit is console specific which requires post development porting. We cut our development cost by 1/3 as a result of using the Sony dev kit.
  ___________________________________________________________________
  
  Originally posted by shummyr: Cool I Should Buy 1 NowYou need a license. After being a licensed developer, you need to apply for one from Sony. Dev Kits are not a consumer item.

  25.3.2009 00:22 #5

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Originally posted by MrXenu:
  All I know is that, its a pretty bad dev kit, nothing like the PS2's one. Its difficult to use and not that great comapred to competitors.
  
  It probably still makes the wii and 360 more viable for small devs, cause of port costs!Actually, PS3 dev kit allows development of all systems at once (PC/PS3/360). 360 Dev kit is console specific which requires post development porting. We cut our development cost by 1/3 as a result of using the Sony dev kit.
  ___________________________________________________________________
  
  Originally posted by shummyr: Cool I Should Buy 1 NowYou need a license. After being a licensed developer, you need to apply for one from Sony. Dev Kits are not a consumer item.How easy is it to use? Sony is making some headway but they should have done this from the start to bring in devs I think if they did more for the devs the damage from the end price would ahve been negligible.

  25.3.2009 06:03 #6

• flyness

  Sony reps point out the DECR-1400A is a new development kit, not a price cut to the old one

  25.3.2009 07:42 #7

• DoomLight

  Originally posted by gleone: Looks like Sony is doing everything they can to keep PSN FREE for the consumer and at the same time make it as easy as possible for developers.
  
  Good Job Sony!
  
  PS3 Rules!i read that the PS3 network maybe free. but when you download the content the publisher of said game has to pay sony everytime the game is downloaded. probably a small percentage for having the game online for download. if that heresey is true. then it would suggest why sony doesn't have as much DLC as 360 does. so if u have to play to play online with the 360, its probably worth it.

  25.3.2009 09:41 #8

• gleone

  Quote:Originally posted by gleone: Looks like Sony is doing everything they can to keep PSN FREE for the consumer and at the same time make it as easy as possible for developers.
  
  Good Job Sony!
  
  PS3 Rules!i read that the PS3 network maybe free. but when you download the content the publisher of said game has to pay sony everytime the game is downloaded. probably a small percentage for having the game online for download. if that heresey is true. then it would suggest why sony doesn't have as much DLC as 360 does. so if u have to play to play online with the 360, its probably worth it.the actual cost is $0.16 per gig of DLC. Sony offers discounts to offset the cost. With a verified 21 million PSN user base, you will most likely not see a bias toward PS3. The savings comes in developing with PS3 as the lead console. 360 is not open ended so it cannot compete in that area.

  25.3.2009 09:47 #9

• DXR88

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: How easy is it to use? Sony is making some headway but they should have done this from the start to bring in devs I think if they did more for the devs the damage from the end price would have been negligible.from what I've heard its not a walk in the park compared to the other two.
  
  of coarse this is what i heard not what Ive experienced. if its anything like the Saturn dev kit i wouldn't touch it with 10ft Polearm in a biohazard suit equipped with ballistic plates.

  25.3.2009 23:11 #10