• PS Vita Dev Tools Made Free in Hopes of Countering Interest in Smartphone Apps

    by
    Akshay Masand
    Published on 2013-05-09 06:41 PM
    10 Comments Comments


    Sony recently announced that it would be removing barriers to publishing for independent developers by doing away with their licensing fees. This move was made in an effort to counter a trend that’s seen its portable devices struggling against competitors such as Apple’s iPhone.

    As of May 7th, the Publisher License Fee for PlayStation Mobile has been waived according to the PlayStation blog. Developers of all stripes no longer have to pay the $99 fee in order to get their games onto Sony’s PlayStation Vita or any other PlayStation-certified device. PS Vita owners will see developers’ games available in the PlayStation Mobile section of the PlayStation Store, as will owners of PlayStation-certified devices (Sony’s tablets and Xperia handsets, as well as a number of devices from Fujitsu, HTC, and Sharp). The move is likely aimed at halting or at least slowing down the momentum that has seen developers increasingly interested in mobile platforms at the expense of traditional home and portable gaming consoles.

    Sony’s gaming rival, Nintendo, is also looking to court mobile gaming developers as the gaming giant recently began offering kits to make it easier to port smartphone games to the Wii U in light of the console’s low initial sales. Sony previously dropped prices on its PS Vita in Japan in an effort to compete as well as the portable console saw disappointing sales as devices like the iPhone have proved a more attractive platform to consumers.

    We’ll have to see if Sony’s move makes a difference going forward though by being patient and awaiting the results.

    Source: PlayStation (blog) via Kotaku
    This article was originally published in forum thread: PS Vita Dev Tools Made Free in Hopes of Countering Interest in Smartphone Apps started by Akshay Masand View original post
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    Comments 10 Comments
    1. kline1's Avatar
      kline1 - 2013-05-09, 07:07 PM
      Im sorry but i honestly dont see myself buying or even holding the huge ps vita, too big. It was fun having the psp when it was cool, its too late for sony.
    1. bigboyz's Avatar
      bigboyz - 2013-05-09, 07:40 PM
      I feel at this point all hand held games are novelties. If you have a smart phone, why would you want even want to buy one of these over priced beasts? My coworker bought one and sold it 2 months later. Why? He said they didn't make enough games. No support for the genre's he likes. Why pay 30-$60 a game? You can buy a smart phone and pay 1.99-$5
    1. 5kylar's Avatar
      5kylar - 2013-05-09, 08:47 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by kline1 View Post
      Im sorry but i honestly dont see myself buying or even holding the huge ps vita, too big. It was fun having the psp when it was cool, its too late for sony.
      +1
      My thoughts to the letter. I haven't even thought of psp in years lol
    1. pkmaximum's Avatar
      pkmaximum - 2013-05-10, 01:20 AM
      These steps should have been taken by SONY from the very beginning. It is far too frequent SONY always has to learn the hardware for their marketing mistakes.

      The Vita had huge potential, with all the hardware capability and input necessity to craft just about any game. It is really unsettling to see a world where Nintendo will shut the door on dedicated gaming handhelds and monopolize the market. Aesthetically speaking, the 3DS looks horrendous, hardware potential, terrible in comparison to the Vita. However, Nintendo releases great games that people love, SONY cant seem to get the same support.

      Sorry SONY but you missed the boat.
    1. bigred503's Avatar
      bigred503 - 2013-05-10, 01:57 AM
      Bought a ps vita an returned it within a month. No games besides resistance and even that was clunky and extremely repetitive. It was an awesome machine though with great potential. It wasn't that bad watching movies or YouTube on it and to have the possibility to play good quality games they screwed the pooch.
    1. Senyaichiya's Avatar
      Senyaichiya - 2013-05-10, 02:39 AM
      I'd love to play all of the Disgaea games on the Vita, however when they got rid of the UMD so you would have to buy the game AGAIN and changing the memory stick PRO duo to a vita memory card again forcing you to buy something specifically for it I was over the Vita also trying to hack it is pretty insane. I have a chip in my PSP if a price drop doesn't happen with the Vita I'll just buy another PSP and hack it.
      Sorry for the rant!
    1. Anonymous's Avatar
      Anonymous - 2013-05-10, 04:36 AM
      I have an iPhone and a Vita and the Vita blows the iPhone out of the water gaming wise. The selection of games is building and hopefully E3 will bring more games. Killzone Mercenary looks incredibly promising.
    1. Cer0's Avatar
      Cer0 - 2013-05-10, 06:45 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by Anonymous View Post
      I have an iPhone and a Vita and the Vita blows the iPhone out of the water gaming wise. The selection of games is building and hopefully E3 will bring more games. Killzone Mercenary looks incredibly promising.
      I too love my Vita. It has several games that keep my attention. I'll take any handheld over smartphone controls. No physical controls sucks horribly for playing games. Yes the Vita has touch screen but hardly any games make it the main controls and some don't even use it. But a lot of games use it wisely.

      I have tried many games on my iPhone but I have yet to find one that the controls work well for extended periods of play. I liked the PSP also. But when they slimmed it down it felt odd holding for long periods. The vita feels comfortable the whole way time. Yes it is big but the bigger screen looks great for games.
    1. Themrdecan's Avatar
      Themrdecan - 2013-05-10, 07:46 PM
      I want to write a letter to Sony's CEO and ask him where psp would be in the gaming market if they would have done this (embrace developers) before the DS or iPhone/smartphone era instead of attempting to criminalize their customers who wanted to develop for them back in the day. I would also like an answer to whether or not the original reason they shunned their home brew community (preventing copyright infringement) was successful on any level considering everything is freely available on the net anyways.

      I'm glad they are being forced to do what they should have done in the first place.
    1. EddieLeonard's Avatar
      EddieLeonard - 2013-05-10, 07:50 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by bigboyz View Post
      I feel at this point all hand held games are novelties. If you have a smart phone, why would you want even want to buy one of these over priced beasts? My coworker bought one and sold it 2 months later. Why? He said they didn't make enough games. No support for the genre's he likes. Why pay 30-$60 a game? You can buy a smart phone and pay 1.99-$5
      Same, I bought mine a week or so after it came out and I was quite disappointed.. I had I think 4 games, out of the 20 or so released by august, they where all crap. I sold it shortly before my birthday...

      For Japan, its quite a popular console... Lots of VNs and games are getting released and it makes me wish I still had one just for those since I've taken an interest in the Japanese language and culture recently.... If I hadn't, I wouldn't even give a 2nd thought about buying one, recommending one or even using one. The only way I will get another one is if I can find one for under $150... And even then I probably wouldn't buy many games for it since the price is way to high for handhelds like you said :/

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