Sony cuts PS3 dev kit price in half

51 Comments by Scott Jon Siegel Nov 19th 2007 6:00AM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Business

In an attempt to further diversify the Playstation 3's library of games, Sony has announced a dramatic price cut for the console's software development kit. The Playstation 3 Reference Tool will now be made available to new developers for $10,250 USD, or €7,500 EUR. This is nearly half of what the SDK has previously cost developers.

Sony has also announced plans to further cut the cost of the development kit once more studios have adopted the format. On the surface, it's clear that Sony's struggling to earn new developers for their console, and hopes that incentives like a reduced entry fee for development will bring new blood to the system. On the other hand, decreased developer costs are good for everyone, so we'll eagerly wait to see where this takes the PS3 in the coming months.

Tags: breaking-news, breakingnews, dev-kit, development-kit, devkit, ps3, sdk, sony

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Ricardo: Nov 19th 2007; 6:21AM

I can already hear the band paying in the deck while the ship goes under... And I cant stop LMAO!

gonk: Nov 19th 2007; 11:17AM

you'd think they'd be paying devs by now

Alexander: Nov 19th 2007; 6:26AM

Well that explains Xbox's reign

Poisoned Al: Nov 19th 2007; 6:30AM

I still don't know why they SELL dev kits. Surly if you want games for your machine you should be almost giving them away.

McWeen: Nov 19th 2007; 7:57AM

Or they could at least sell them at cost.

Grant: Nov 19th 2007; 11:25AM

because it's more likely that some joe shmoe would wind up with one eventually, and unsigned, unofficial PS3 code would start to fly everywhere.
Everyone charges for dev kits, always has, this is nothing new. The wiis is cheap as shit, and yet 3rd party support is still lackluster at best.

Maybe now this will encourage developers so the PS3 will have a library of more than 3 good games.

Kye, NDF - Fearless Leader (on leave): Nov 19th 2007; 6:39AM

Good news for all (almost)
Here's to more price drops.

Hashbrown_Hunter: Nov 19th 2007; 7:49PM

Yeah this is phenomenal for developers and encourage more to develop for the PS3.

Bucket: Nov 19th 2007; 7:03AM

Well, there's still indie development, which Sony said they'd have full support for. Whatever happened to that? Oh yeah, the fact that trying to find information on how to get Sony to publish your game is like looking for a needle in a needlestack.

FidliousWong: Nov 19th 2007; 9:17AM

Apparently Needles are now vulnerable to google searches.... Amazing what "Sony Independent Developer Program" turns up...

http://www.scedev.net/

And lookitdat! All the contact info on becoming a developer on Sony Playstation platforms. All in all, much easier than actually getting licensed for Nintendo DS development. Trust me, I tried. I send in a game prototype, I get back brochures of Digipen....

Bucket: Nov 19th 2007; 10:42AM

Cookie for you.
Also, your comment# ends in 1337.

poop: Nov 19th 2007; 7:18AM

Wow pakit2. You are such a loser. You should find a better outlet for your "creative" writing than the forums.

This won't take PS3 anywhere in the coming months... more like years.

DBX00: Nov 19th 2007; 7:22AM

$20,000 is not a major expense for a development process when you have guys on an average salary of $100,000 creating the game. This may get more independent developers moving on the platform but the guys that sell the big titles are already on broad. Anyway, the system has some good titles already out, sales have turned a corner, and the heavy hitters are coming in a few months. I wouldn't worry about any of the systems at this point.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Nov 19th 2007; 8:41AM

Sales may have turned a corner, but we're not sure if that corner takes them uphill or into a dead end. Too soon to tell.

kevinski: Nov 19th 2007; 7:39AM

Ah, I was wondering when Sony was having its going-out-of-business sale. XD

Grant: Nov 19th 2007; 11:31AM

nah,
no dice.
They still have blu ray, and it looks like they bribed every retailer enough to exclusively carry it until their ass goes chapter 11.

but i'll be counting the days until they do!

kevinski: Nov 19th 2007; 4:06PM

Yeah, I realize that Sony isn't quite there yet, but it's well on its way.

Count Noobula: Nov 19th 2007; 7:38PM

Nice, its like they were having a garage sale when they cut the price of the PS3's. Now the dev kits are 1/2 price. Nice. Soon the Playstation Brand will be up for grabs, and SNK will buy it and make their return.

kevinski: Nov 19th 2007; 8:32PM

Hahahaha...now, THAT would be worth seeing.

Jonah Falcon: Nov 19th 2007; 7:56AM

I'm thinking of getting the XNA SDK for $99.

SKI: Nov 19th 2007; 7:58AM

What do Microsoft's and Nintendo's dev kits cost for developers?

Max Headroom: Nov 19th 2007; 8:06AM

...and in related news, Sony has also announced a new version of their dev kit, which will be priced at $20,000 (USD). The new kit will support several new features not found in the old one. However, it will not be fully backwards compatable.

Emophia: Nov 19th 2007; 8:41AM

Since when does the 40gig PS3 have more features than the 60gig version?

Kyattsuai: Nov 19th 2007; 8:08AM

10250 US dollars!

Nate: Nov 19th 2007; 8:33AM

Why does it necessarily mean Sony is struggling to find new developers? I think that's a ridiculous statement with no backing whatsoever. No major development company is going to balk at $20k for a dev kit for one of the three major consoles out there. Come on! We pay like 10 grand at my work for an MSDN site license. We don't even blink at that cost, and we're smaller than most game companies.

The price cut is obviously aimed at getting more small, independent game companies in on the PS3 goodness. Hopefully it'll work.

Poisoned Al: Nov 19th 2007; 11:46AM

Well all the smaller groups make the best games. Unlike big companies that play it safe all the bloody time like EA and are almost totally profit driven. Smaller places actually want to, you know, make games. If they make loads of money too, double bubble!

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Nov 19th 2007; 8:46AM

It should be noted that a dev kit is not at all the same as a site license. A dev kit is 1 PS3 with development tools and functionality. If you have a programming team of 100 people, you're going to want more than 1 dev kit.

That said, I agree. 20k isn't that big a deal. My company pays 10k-20k for 3D modeling SEATS. And we have nearly 100 seats across the company. That's a yearly fee.

DrXym: Nov 19th 2007; 8:55AM

Why does it assume it's "struggling". Maybe the cut is seen as a strategic way to attract more indie firms, for PSN and so on.

Akamaru: Nov 19th 2007; 9:06AM

The only people this move is going to affect are the indie studios and people who want to make games on a shoestring budget. Any big studio more than likely already has a dev kit or will never be getting one.

HineyWipe: Nov 19th 2007; 9:07AM

Here come the crappy games...(surely good developers could afford $20K per kit...)

Vidikron (FU): Nov 19th 2007; 10:53AM

What if you're a new new start-up indie?

ForcedSterilizationsForAll: Nov 20th 2007; 9:02AM

Oh look, Madden 09 is out. Oh look, another shooter. Oh look, another sports game that is a sports-shooter hybrid.

RC: Nov 19th 2007; 9:34AM

All this means is they are trying to make it easier for smaller developers to make games. I'm done with Joystiq after this one. Tired of all the spin. Any news has to be spun as a PS3 failure. They will be losing my hits. Later.

Clack: Nov 19th 2007; 10:12AM

http://www.sonydefenseforce.com/

Your new happy home awaits.

Zoesch: Nov 19th 2007; 10:28AM

RC vs Clack: Trolls Of Destruction... how cute

Joloto: Nov 19th 2007; 9:34AM

WHY WON'T you LIVE!? Quick Kaz, send it back to the barber for MORE BLOOD LETTING!

Gangsta Smurf: Nov 19th 2007; 9:38AM

Finally Sony is starting to come to their senses. 2008 should be rather interesting.

morganfell: Nov 19th 2007; 9:50AM

Joystiq says they will "eagerly wait to see" so they can find another angle to attack the PS3. Are you owners and editors oblivious to your bias or is it purposeful? You can't mention a good PS3 story without finding the bad or else trying to jam some unsubstantiated rumor about the 360 into the story. You
people are the worst example of a balanced news site ever.

And don't even claim to be a blog anymore, you are a frigging news site. No more web hits from me either. That includes your PS3 Fanboy site that spends almost as much time taking jabs at the PS3. I will encourage everyone on everyboard to stop visiting any of your sites.

Clack: Nov 19th 2007; 10:14AM

http://www.sonydefenseforce.com/

All is lollipops and candycanes in the land of Sony, do not be deceived by the joystiq heretics!

Martez: Nov 19th 2007; 1:41PM

Don't be stupid. Pretty much every game news site is referring to this price cut as an attempt to grab more developers. Even not-really-game-news sites like Wired are "spinning" the story as a negative.

n2: Nov 19th 2007; 10:21AM

I thought Sony already distributed over 4,000 dev kits. Considering there's only so many developers, you would think every major developer already had one... uh, hundreds.

I guess this is really aimed at the indie developer.

ThornedVenom: Nov 19th 2007; 11:06AM

Fuck yeah, but it's still over nine thousand.... dollars.

Mr Khan: Nov 19th 2007; 7:43PM

I see what you did there

NATO_Duke: Nov 19th 2007; 12:28PM

Good to see them lower this pricing. Heres to hoping more devs are willing to give the PS3 their time now.

Joe Smith: Nov 19th 2007; 12:46PM

Microsoft's Xbox 360 kits have been $10K since the beginning.

SDF: Nov 19th 2007; 2:26PM

"On the surface, it's clear that Sony's struggling to earn new developers for their console"
Lets see:
UT3: Sony lead platform, 360 nowhere in sight
Haze: PS3 exclusive
FF13, MGS4: despite intense pressure, still exclusive
Next Rockstar game, LA Noire: PS3
Wardevil, next Quantic dream project: PS3
Most 3rd party franchises on PS3, even those that launched PRIOR to the PS3 (Oblivion, GRAW, R6, Lost Planet, Saints row 2, Condemned 2)

And why such a surprise? After all we have a 200 prie cut for PS3 as well - bet no price cut for 360 kits though, a measly 50 cut in TWO years, ands it not even selling - something like 2-3mn in the whole of 2007?

Word Up, North Korea!: Nov 19th 2007; 7:30PM

I really don't understand the cheerleading for Sony to go out of business/fail

do you really want to hand Microsoft another monopoly? remember how well it's latest bloated OS has turned out?

that's what happens when you have overwhelming market share, shit-poor products, but with enough leverage to shove them down people's throats anyway...I think ya'll need to wake up

Mr Khan: Nov 19th 2007; 7:42PM

It wouldn't be a monopoly

Sony and Microsoft are competing for 2nd place, people often seem to forget this

Word Up, North Korea!: Nov 19th 2007; 7:45PM

I don't consider the Wii to be a competitor to either of those, it's an entirely different market in my mind.

I think most developers agree

Mezstizo: Nov 19th 2007; 7:57PM

I would rather have Sony throw in a 2-3 month course on how to program for their complex system. That's what will help developers. (And help them to do it right)

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