GDC08: Why you should develop for the PSN

by Andrew Yoon { Feb 21st 2008 at 3:00PM }

We thought you'd enjoy seeing some of Sony's GDC presentation at Game Developer's Conference. SCEA reached out to the game development community, attempting to highlight the reasons why the PSN should be a destination for developers. The benefits of network distribution (slide, above) are pretty obvious:

No physical goods
Lower development costs
Keep more of the money!
No used games market

These are all intrinsic to digital distribution. But, Sony's presentation revealed some more interesting points.

Stats for the PLAYSTATION Store (PS3) include:

Over 2.8 million PSN registrants in North America
Average 100,000 registrants per week since Xmas
Over 46 million downloads worldwide
50% of PS3 consoles registered on PSN (what about the other half?)

Sony doesn't hate 2D, a point they wanted to drive home. The PixelJunk series has shown Sony is willing to go into new (and old) territories with their PSN titles. The games delivered on PS3/PSP don't have to be exclusive to the platform "but" would earn some extra recognition from the SCE team. For independent developers, having the support of SCE for an exclusive can make a good game even better.

Some other points made in the presentation: unlike XBLA, there is no size limit to the games developed for PSN. However, if a gamer "can go to the store faster" than it would take to download the title, it probably isn't ideal for digital distribution. Also, in stark contrast to the suspiciously slow approval process at XBLA, Sony will allow games to be published as quickly as the Thursday after it completes QA approval. The bold challenge for developers to "show [SCE] how it's done!" encourages developers to make games, even if they compete against similar ones on the Network.

Perhaps the most telling thing about the presentation: how jam-packed it was. Developers are keen on the PSN, and are interested in publishing games for the PS3. It will take some time to see if Sony's efforts to catch their attention have worked. As a non-developer, it was a pretty fascinating session to attend.

Tags: development, gdc08fanboy, psn

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Chris Rah Osiris @ Feb 21st 2008 3:09PM

The thing that I liked to hear the most was how packed it was. Thanks for the info. Looking forward to some great games coming to PSN

Trev @ Feb 21st 2008 3:16PM

I like that last one. "Well, then just make your game better than ours!" Encouraging competition will only lead to more ambitious games.

Mikezula @ Feb 21st 2008 3:28PM

I like how SONY is treating the GDC like GDC, and not hawking all their wares to potential consumers.

Dehshizknight @ Feb 21st 2008 4:16PM

Exactly, that's why I hate it when people on message boards keep complaining that they aren't showing off any merchandise when the games aren't the point of the conference!!!

Sauvage @ Feb 21st 2008 4:02PM

So was this presentation in conjuction with the news about PhyreEngine or separate all together?
Can Andrew Yoon clarify or anyone else for that matter.

Andrew Yoon @ Feb 21st 2008 3:34PM

Much of the news came from the same presentation. Later today, you'll see more on Home and Insomniac's secret announcement. We also have interviews with Incognito about new Warhawk content, and we've already conducted interviews with Q-Games about PixelJunk. Stay tuned--there's a lot that's coming in the next few days.

Haiddasalami @ Feb 21st 2008 4:21PM

Andrew, Is it possible to acquire Sony's free engine to say the budding game developer?

Simstim @ Feb 21st 2008 3:34PM

Everything about this is smart and in the right direction, good going Sony.

Lee Richards @ Feb 21st 2008 3:38PM

"Keep more of the money!" :)

Well if that isn't incentive enough, I don't know what is!

sean @ Feb 21st 2008 3:41PM

thanks andrew for the update. i cant wait for home and insomniac updates. and warhawk actually. guess this is sony day at GDC

fawrh @ Feb 21st 2008 4:23PM

It would be even better if they released the PhyreEngine to indy-game developers and let us develop (even if it is only free titles) for the PSN. There aren't many of the indy developers out there that can fork over the kind of cash that Sony wants for a devkit. Sony has the best platform, and they obviosly need more games for PSN, so are they going to let the us have a go at it? or are we stuck with XNA for *crings* XBOX?

Haiddasalami @ Feb 21st 2008 6:10PM

Please Sony release it. Ill save my lunch money and you can have it.

James @ Feb 21st 2008 4:16PM

Grrrr, I hate how Sony (and basically everybody, I guess) flags "no used games market" as an unmitigated "pro", like there's no downside. I for one am *less* likely to buy a digital-distribution title that I haven't played before, because at least if I buy a disc and hate it, I can either take it back (depending on where I got it...) or resell it. If I download e.g. Loco Roco and hate it, I'm just out 8 bucks.

At least XBLA has a "demo for every game" policy...

Noshino @ Feb 21st 2008 5:25PM

James,

The problem lies on the fact that not every indie developer has the chance to get a contract with a company to publish his/her game...

The chances of an indie developing studio to be able to afford a devkit are higher than the ones of the studio being able to get a contract to publish their game...

Also, there are many ways nowadays to see how a game is, there is written and video reviews, hell, you can even find gameplay videos in YouTube and so on. There are many games on the PSN that offer a demo, hey, there are some games for which you just can't really give a demo, was there a demo for Shadow of the Collosus?

And digital distributed games are cheaper than their retail counterparts...

So in general, digital distribution IS a "pro" from almost every angle...

PSN: KillaKornbread @ Feb 21st 2008 5:50PM

im with Noshino

ive purchased a few PSN games before without playing demos but i still did it with confidence that i was purchasing good games. that's because of sites like this giving extensive updates and reviews along with sites like YouTube giving me gameplay videos and even videos of actual people who bought the game playing it and telling us how it is.

u do have a point about not being able to resell games you dont like but i see being a more educated buyer as a better solution to the problem. i dont buy anything new without researching it to death (reading reviews and watching videos mostly) and recently ive purchased a great HDTV, PS3, and Smartphone and couldnt be happier with all of my purchases. if you know how to get the most out of the internet, buyers remorse is for the most part a thing of the past.

Dru @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:57AM

I hear both sides, but I've got to agree with James simply because if I'm buying it then I want to own it. In terms of physical media vs. digital I think it boils down to this:

If I own the disk then I can decide if I keep it or resell it. I like getting something back when I'm done with it. I've resold lots of games that helped pay for the next ones. I would do the same with any product if it was worth the time and effort. Trading games is easy and allows me to continue my "addiction" :P to gaming! Having said that, I'm referring to games like Warhawk or Shivering Isles, not the $10 PSN titles.

Now on the other hand with DD, I see one other potential positive that is not being addressed and that is future consoles. I'd like to think that everything we download, along with our PSN accounts, will simply transfer to the PS4 when the time comes. I'd love to "take" all my d/l's with me by either having them "attached" to my account or by the h/d. I've been thinking a lot about how this would work and am really excited about DD possibilities and how they would tie in with future consoles. Also, I sure as hell like launching directly from the h/d. Yep, no getting off the couch to swap discs out everytime I want to play something else.

Ultimately, I'd choose the physical media right now if I had a choice (e.g. Warhawk, Shivering Isles) since I can get real value for it down the road and I don't have to worry about data corruption or my hard drive crashing in the future. DD is coming for better or worse...

John @ Feb 21st 2008 4:39PM

one reason why not to develop network games is becuz a lot of ppl don't have credit cards yet.

PSN: KillaKornbread @ Feb 21st 2008 5:55PM

who are these credit cardless people you speak of? i dont have a credit card and still buy stuff on the PSN. if you have a bank account, most banks will let you get a debit card which is much better than a credit card in my opinion. it basically takes the money right out of your bank account when you make a purchase rather than putting it on credit for you to pay back later.

(this is all assuming of course, you dont know what a debit card is, no offense of course lol)

Haiddasalami @ Feb 21st 2008 6:13PM

Sony is solving this through the use of pre-paid cards.

Popfrogs @ Feb 21st 2008 4:47PM

I wonder if Opera or someone in the Mozilla project can put a better browser on the PSN for a few bucks. I'd be willing to pay $5 or so to put a real browser (Firefox) on the PS3. Also if it's running as a game, it'll have access to way more resources so we can finally have an updated Flash, Java, proper (fast) javascript support, ajax, etc.

What do you guys think about that idea?

Kspraydad @ Feb 21st 2008 4:49PM

I've been waiting for a Firefox PS3 flavour...not sure why it can't /isn't being done...seems a no brainer.

Popfrogs @ Feb 21st 2008 4:52PM

I may go out on a limb like the Everyday Shooter guy did and just buy a devkit for $1200. I'd make that money back in a day if I built this browser properly and if Sony would make it available. Not sure about this whole thing, time to start emailing people. :)

Haiddasalami @ Feb 21st 2008 6:12PM

Umm the devkit is not 1200...add another 8800$ then Sony will probably talk to you. Also Everyday Shooter was actually developed on the PC and when Jonathan Mak showed his game at IGF, Sony loved the idea and asked him to bring it to PSN. He actually worked with the Sony team and was given everything he needed. Same with Flow, developed for PC using flash.

Damian @ Feb 21st 2008 5:12PM

Sony putting "No used games market" in the presentation is just being honest - it's an absolute truth of the way it's all set up. And that is an incentive for developers. And incentives for developers mean more games. And more games means more decent games, if a certain percentage generally hit the mark...

Fair point that all games should have demos, for that reason. But then again not all "off the shelf" games have demos, and that's always been the case...