Indie developers primesc devkit-uri PS4 gratuit!

[MonkY]

Dupa stirea prin care aflam ca Microsoft in sfarsit isi deschide portile developerilor indie, nu a trecut mult pana am vazut o reactie din partea celor de la Sony. Din mai multe surse care se ocupa de development pentru PS4 aflam ca desi un devkit costa aproximativ 2.500 USD, cei de la Sony il ofera gratuit pe o perioada limitata tuturor celor care se inregistreaza in serviciul de indie development. Desi perioada este de doar un an, eu zic ca e mare lucru, in special pentru cei care nu-si permit asemenea sume la inceput. Not bad Sony, not bad!

Va reamintesc ca in trecut pentru PS3 un devkit se plateau intre 1.000 si 10.000 USD (in functie de nivelul de debug si functii dorite). Totodata, desi devkit-urile de Xbox One costa doar 500 USD, se plateste o taxa pentru folosirea acestora. Din pacate, cei de la Microsoft refuza sa faca publica suma respectiva, dar zvonurile spun ca ar fi vorba de cateva mii de dolari pe an.

Mai jos aveti si cateva citate:

"All the indies I know got them for free," said one developer. "Sony has been amazing about kits and development thus far."

"Self-publishing has been available on PlayStation platforms for over five years, so it's nothing new," said a spokesperson for Sony. "The process of devs bringing their games to market has continued to evolve, and PlayStation has led the charge in adapting and embracing new publishing rules to allow for more creative freedom for developers."

The spokesperson pointed toward Sony's loaner dev kit program, as well as other support mechanisms. "With self-publishing, we keep things really flexible for developers and give them lots of options, including funding through the Pub Fund, which is back-end funding paid upon completion of the game, we waive patch fees for indies and all digital titles and we embrace new business models like F2P, episodic and subscriptions. We've had more than 500 games self-published on PSN."

"By and large, indie development has become extremely accessible, especially on our platform," said the spokesperson. "We offer a lot of freedom and flexibility and we've built our in-PS Store promotions around indie titles and their launch dates. Also, we provide indies with additional support like putting them on stage at E3, hosting indie-focused events like our Indie Arcade at GDC, etc. Most importantly, our Developer Relations team has really developed relationships with the devs. They talk daily, offer advice and really advocate for them and their particular needs."