DailyTech - Sony Slashes PlayStation 3 Development Kit Cost

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Software Sony Slashes PlayStation 3 Development Kit Cost
Michael Hoffman (Blog) - November 19, 2007 2:08 PM

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31 comment(s) - last by SavagePotato.. on Nov 20 at 6:35 PM

Sony's latest effort to boost PS3 console sales

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) recently slashed the price of software necessary for game developers to create new titles for the PlayStation 3. Sony hopes the 50 percent price cut will help bolster the slumping PS3 game development environment, with third-party developers hesitant to create games for the console.

The PS3 is technologically superior to competitors Microsoft and Nintendo, but the added power makes game development more expensive and difficult.

The "reference tool" development package will now cost $10,250 in North America, $11,250 in Europe and $8,600 in Japan. Even though the price cut first appears to be in response to struggling global sales, Sony made a reference tool price cut after the PlayStation 2 was available on the market around one year.

"This is part of our efforts to cooperate with game software developers," said Satoshi Fukuoka, a Sony spokesperson. "We expect this to lead eventually to releases of more games."

Game developers who made successful titles for the PS2 are choosing to create game titles for the Nintendo Wii instead of the PS3.

Although a recent $100 price cut in Europe, Japan and the U.S. temporarily helped boost PS3 console sales, which have been lackluster compared to the Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 game consoles, gamers strongly criticized the weak PS3 game catalog.

Sony also launched a large ad campaign to raise brand awareness of Blu-ray and the PlayStation Network -- Blu-ray remains locked in a high-definition content war with the HD DVD format.

Part of this new awareness promotion includes 15 free high-definition movies with Playstation 3 purchases this weekend at Wal-Mart. Similar promotions for HD DVD were met with incredible fanfare and praise.

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Well

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 11/19/2007 3:43:40 PM , Rating: 2

Well if it comes with the two ladies in the thumbnail, I'm sold. ;)

RE: Well

By mdogs444 on 11/19/07, Rating: 0

RE: Well

By Screwballl on 11/19/2007 3:55:05 PM , Rating: 2

Just for the sheer hell yeah of it, Megan Fox deserves a DT 6 rating. May not be everyones taste but is close and sure is mine.. any cutie that goes for the geek (even if it is in a movie) gets thumbs up approval from me.

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RE: Well

By KristopherKubicki

(blog) on 11/19/2007 4:05:38 PM , Rating: 2

Yeah if someone can get Megan Fox to post on DT, I'll give him a +6.

Megan gets a +7 though. :)

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RE: Well

By Vanilla Thunder on 11/19/2007 3:53:51 PM , Rating: 2

LOL...the one on the left looks about 14.

Vanilla

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RE: Well

By Samus on 11/19/2007 7:19:50 PM , Rating: 2

Meh...14's legal in Japan. Actually 13 is too. But not 16, that's the year they get a 'break.'

/sarcasm

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RE: Well

By SavagePotato on 11/19/2007 4:25:31 PM , Rating: 2

It does come with them.

But they are Kathoey's

Good news bad news.

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RE: Well

By SirLucius on 11/19/2007 4:41:28 PM , Rating: 3

IT'S A TRAP!

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RE: Well

By UsernameX on 11/19/2007 4:48:17 PM , Rating: 5

quote:
Well if it comes with the two ladies in the thumbnail, I'm sold. ;)

lol, I work at a call center and opened up with "hahahahahaha" instead of my normal greeting.

The customer was so confused, rofl.

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RE: Well

By Pythias on 11/20/2007 12:17:48 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
I work at a call center

You poor, damned soul. I'm so very sorry that the universe has seen fit to punish you in this manner.

Be strong. It wont last forever.

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RE: Well

By Alexstarfire on 11/19/2007 11:08:12 PM , Rating: 1

Think I'll pass. If they are really from Asia there's a good chance they've had plastic surgery. Not that I'd say no, but I wouldn't want them in the long run.

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RE: Well

By Bioniccrackmonk on 11/20/2007 8:58:02 AM , Rating: 2

You mean like a lot of actors/models in New York and California here in the states? No way, why would anyone in a profession like that need plastic surgery?

A quote from a friend of mine that I always found funny:

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly is to the bone.

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My question

By FITCamaro on 11/19/2007 4:04:49 PM , Rating: 1

What was the cost before? How much of a drop are these prices?

And really I doubt the development kit cost is the blocking factor. It's more the amount of extra work vs. a 360 or Wii game a PS3 title requires. Even if the PS3 dev kit was free, if you have to spend 50% more time programming your game vs. with the competing systems, its not gonna help Sony.

$10,000 is just a drop in the bucket for development costs. Even if you need 20-30 of them. You're going to spend WAY more than that in labor for programming, art, etc.

RE: My question

By SavagePotato on 11/19/07, Rating: -1

RE: My question

By retrospooty on 11/19/2007 7:35:27 PM , Rating: 2

"Complaining about the ps3's development difficulty is just that, complaining."

not necesarily... It seems developers are not just complaining, many are not developing for it.

"Sony hopes the 50 percent price cut will help bolster the slumping PS3 game development"

Not just complaining, see the difference?

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RE: My question

By SavagePotato on 11/20/2007 6:35:58 PM , Rating: 2

If they are not developing for it, it's because they lack the talent to pull it off. Again see the whining complainer mentality over the platform.

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RE: My question

By joemoedee on 11/19/2007 4:53:31 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
What was the cost before? How much of a drop are these prices?

They cut the price 50%... So it was $20k/piece

May not be a huge deal for the EA's of the world, but I'm sure it is for smaller companies.

I don't know how the licensing on these things works, but if it was one Dev kit/Developer, I could see even $10k really adding up quick.

As far as the programming time/complexity goes, I'm not a video game programmer. I don't think the complexity of programming really effects the amount/quality of games for 99% of the studios. Look at console history...

Saturn = Hard to code for, failed
Dreamcast = Easy to code for, failed
PS2 = Hard to code for, success
Xbox = Easy to code for, moderately successfully, failed compared to PS2

Basing success on difficulty to code for is hard to do as historically, all of that is a crapshoot.

With the PS3, the pricing is in line with the market now, and more games are coming out. The sales trends of the PS3 are in line with what X360 had at the start.

Anything Sony is doing at this point is aimed to ramping up the sales. More sales = more games = Happy Gamers.

Throw in some strong competition from all three console makers, and things should be good in the gaming world for a long time.

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RE: My question

By FITCamaro on 11/19/2007 7:38:07 PM , Rating: 2

The Dreamcast failed due to lack of support. The PS2 succeeded due to it not really having a competitor of merit. Dreamcast was on its way down before the PS2 released. The Xbox wasn't really a failure, it just was in the market late and did fairly well for a latecomer. It was replaced in 3 years.

As far as the PS3, when you combine poor sales and higher development costs, thats hardly a recipe for success. Yes its price is more in line with the competition now, but the question is, is it too late?

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RE: My question

By Brockway on 11/20/2007 10:18:24 AM , Rating: 3

The Dreamcast failed because it was so incredibly easy to pirate. No mod chip needed, you could just copy the game's and play them.

I don't see why people keep trying to nail the coffin shut on Sony's casket. Its been ONE year. Sales are inline and the library is better than 360's was at this point. The hardware is sound, they hardly ever break, and according to Infinity Ward, Warner Bros., Epic, Naughty Dog, and Incognito, the programming hurdle's already been jumped.

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RE: My question

By joemoedee on 11/20/2007 11:42:27 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
The Dreamcast failed because it was so incredibly easy to pirate. No mod chip needed, you could just copy the game's and play them.

Doubtful. Where I'm sure it hurt some, you have to remember that at the time (2000/2001) Broadband wasn't as widely in use as it is today, also, most consumers don't pirate, nor have the knowledge to pirate, their games.

Third party support, and Sega's ability to mis-market whatever they've done since 1993 really killed it. Not having EA on board was a big hindrance as well.

I don't have brand loyalty to any of their manufacturers, but if I had to choose an ultimate winner between X360 and PS3, history would show to bet on the PS3.

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RE: My question

By elgoliath on 11/19/2007 8:02:26 PM , Rating: 2

Your theory about the complexity of programing and the success of the console is misleading. In the past, there has typically been one leading console(not including the early sega/nintendo days). In the case of a clear market leader, programing complexity takes a back seat which has worked well for sony in the past as their consoles have been released at the perfect times. Unfortunately, this time around sony actually has competition- directly by the 360 and indirectly by the Wii.

Now, developers have to choose which one they are going to use as the primary platform which hurts the PS3 because of the following:

-Smaller install base
-'Harder' to program for
-Not more powerful than their competition for the most part
-Future forecast for the PS3 is meh- not gonna be good, not gonna be bad
-Sony's self induced PR nightmares(public perception counts for a lot)

I'm sure there are a lot of reasons I missed, but the state of the console market has changed dramatically since the consoles you listed were mainstream and I don't believe a correlation can be drawn between them with any real degree of assurance.

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RE: My question

By joemoedee on 11/20/2007 11:57:27 AM , Rating: 2

I believe the market can and will support multiple consoles. I believe we already have the runaway leader in the Wii. Until MS and Sony can produce a console to fully compete pricewise with the Wii, it will remain the leader by far.

The smaller base is misleading, as its installed market is the same as MS had at a similar point in the 360's lifespan.

Programming difficulty means nil in console success. History shows this that, if you want to agree or disagree, that's fine. :)

As far as the hardware capabilities, I still don't believe we know fully what either the 360 or PS3 will do. I think both are really untapped at this point. However I do feel the PS3 does have one strong advantage over the X360 for future games, that being it's use of the Blu-Ray disk for its storage medium.

The future forecast looks good for both. As the developers become more familiar with all the hardware, the games will get bigger, better looking, and hopefully better overall.

Sony's PR nightmares. Yes, I agree if hurts the view of the general Dailytech reader, as well as the tech-educated consumer. Yes, we have typically have money. And yes, we do spend it on expensive tech toys and gadgets. However, we're outnumbered by the normal consumer 100:1. They don't read about the same things we do, nor if they do read them, do they have the same effect on them. All they know is they bought Little Johnny a PS2, and now he wants a PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii.

It's all very interesting, and a bit mind boggling to what next gen console I want.

It's a gamble because of the price. Do I spend the money on the 360, which has a better installed base of games now, but its predecessor experienced a complete drop off of support rather abruptly, or do I spend it on a PS3, which does not have as large of a gaming base now, but judging by the PS1 & 2, should experience a long, long run of support and new games coming out for it.

Maybe I'll just get a PS2. ;p

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I wonder

By shaw on 11/19/2007 5:30:27 PM , Rating: 2

So what are the cost of the PS2, 360 and Wii dev kits in comparison? I heard Wii dev kits are very cheap. I imagine PS2 dev kits "cheap" now as well.

RE: I wonder

By joemoedee on 11/19/2007 6:25:02 PM , Rating: 2

This is what I was able to find...

Wii = ~$1,750 USD
PS2 = ~$20,000 USD (Info seems a bit dated)
X360 = ~$10,000 USD

Again, information may not be completely accurate. It does seem that the devkit is now similarly priced to X360.

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RE: I wonder

By Locutus465 on 11/20/2007 4:28:31 PM , Rating: 2

360 also has a $99/yr option to allow homebrew gaming with free distrabution included... Not that any major studio would opt for this, but still the option is there.

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RE: I wonder

By Dactyl on 11/19/2007 9:24:15 PM , Rating: 2

An expensive Dev Kit says:

"You're a small studio with some new ideas about how to make video games? You want to do something original? Buzz off."

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But Will this Lead to Better Games?

By mles1551 on 11/19/2007 3:55:45 PM , Rating: 1

My initial response:Yay! Now it will cost the game developers less money to make their crap games.

But seriously I don't see how $1,000 is going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things. I suppose they can spend that 1k on labor to figure out how to maximize the PS3's potential.

If it leads to more games like COD4 that's great, but somehow I doubt it.

RE: But Will this Lead to Better Games?

By deeznuts on 11/19/2007 4:03:21 PM , Rating: 2

Not sure where you saw a $1,000 price cut. Yeah this DT blurb isn't that detailed, but Kotaku is reporting approx. 50% price cut. So make that $10,000.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/playstation-3/ps3-dev-kit...

Might lead to more games like Everyday shooter, Super Stardust HD, calling all cars etc.

You may now Continue your regular hating of the PS3.

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RE: But Will this Lead to Better Games?

By mles1551 on 11/19/2007 6:48:41 PM , Rating: 2

Oh yeah I'm always on here bashing on the PS3.<Sarcastic
But in all honestly, up to this point there have been few quality games on the PS3 in the genres I'm interested in.
My shortlist includes Resistance,COD4,and Warhawk.

Yeah I'm a little biased, I like to blow things up. So games like Lair,Oblivion,Heavenly Sword, and Ninja Gaiden didn't really interest me.

If it leads to more independent games that's great. Super Stardust and Blast Factor are fun. Calling all cars was ok, though I think I was more entertained by Super Rub a Dub. Everday Shooter is really good as well and different, like FloW meets asteroids.

In the end I'll applaud anything that will actually, not maybe, give me something to hold over the M$ fanboy's heads.

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I never understood

By hr824 on 11/19/2007 4:55:16 PM , Rating: 5

Why the development tools aren't free. The money is in the games not the dev tools so why not make them accessible to any one who wants to give it a shot.

Microsoft has come a long way with this offering free versions of c++ and XNA studio .

Look at what counterstrike did for valve it only takes 1 dude in is garage with a few friends to recoup all the cost of the dev tools.