View Full Version : Sony Admits Lack Of Developer Support


mboojigga
06-23-08, 03:47 AM
Sony have at last faced the awful truth that we have all known from the outset, that has given us a library of uninspired ports, frame rate issues and uninspired unique IP's: The difficulty in developing for the PS3 has driven away developers.
Sony themselves develop 30% of the consoles titles, leaving the rest to third party developers who had begun developing a year earlier for the Xbox 360. With the ease of working with the 360 and the exorbitant costs associated with the PS3, this left most AAA titles merely being ports rather than taking advantage of the superior hardware buried deep inside.

In a manner very unlike Sony, Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide has come out and admitted to the problem and attempted to address it with the community.

Mr Yoshida said: "Sometimes we struggle to convince them (third-party publishers) to put more resources into the PS3."

He added: "We know there's a lot more that we can do, and with the massive growth of the industry we understand that third party publishers have so many choices, many more than they have resources."

Mr Yoshida told GamesIndustry.biz: "Because the 360 hardware was out earlier, the games were built based on 360 architecture. But still, they must have been planning to...release (the PS3 game) at the same time with the same quality. So they massively underestimated the effort that was needed to re-architect the game to property take advantage of the PS3's multi-core architecture."

In a machine that was always built with the future in mind and completely disregarding the present, the company is pinning its hopes on Blu-ray technology.

He said: "Timing-wise the unfortunate situation for the PS3 was that it didn't come out after a few years of the Blu-ray learning curve...so we had massive amounts of work to do and that really hit the profitability of the company.

"We tried as much as possible not to pass that cost on to consumers, but we do feel that the early adapters of the PS3 are getting good value (with the integrated Blu-ray)".

With only one truly great game released we have seen console sales jump through the roof. Sony fans, and indeed gaming fans in general, are hoping that something can be done to allow delevopers to learn the hardware and have it cost effective to release unique versions across all platforms.

In the meantime, I can be found indented into my lounge, beer and wireless controller at the ready and voice chatting to my friend over Xbox Live.

http://www.gamerchip.com/developers-dont-support-ps3/

Slacker George
06-23-08, 05:03 AM
Gamerchip? We just posting rants from random blogs now?

Non-inflamitory link to the real article.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/shuhei-yoshida-part-two

Talking about the launch year, the biggest disappointment was that because first party is very important and takes a certain share of titles, as well as a variety of third party titles - something that's very important for any platform to succeed, and something that's always been our plan at PlayStation - I'm sure that third party publishers had planned to release their titles day-and-date with the launch of the PlayStation 3, or day-and-date with the launch of the title on the Xbox 360, but because the 360 hardware was out earlier, the games were built based on 360 architecture.

But still, they must have been planning, thinking they have enough time, to port the second game to PS3 and release at the same time with the same quality. So they massively underestimated the effort that was needed to re-architect the game to properly take advantage of the PS3's multi-core architecture.

That was last year, and if you just look at first party products and how they came out, not everything quite came out on time, but we're pretty happy with how the titles supported the launch and during the first year.

But it's impossible to bring the level of support that we feel is important for the PlayStation 3 platform without the third parties' continued support. That was the miscalculation by both us, and from third parties.

But I think after the end of last year, there are more and more titles are coming out on the same day [as Xbox 360] and the same quality, and we can start to see some additional things on PS3 because of the space available on Blu-ray.

That re-architecture only needs to happen once, and once you pass that, you have the foundation ready. Moving forward I'm totally confident that developers will start to use more from the PlayStation 3 platform. This year is the year of parity, next year is the year of differentiation in favour of the PS3 platform.

dgjr
06-23-08, 05:25 AM
Nice 300 mboojigga.

I'm not worried at all about the PS3. Yes it had a slow start but that's has changed quit a bit.

TyrantII
06-23-08, 08:16 AM
Guess we all forgot how the 360 kicked off...

Year two is seeing some gems come out already, just like xbox did.

gamelover360
06-23-08, 08:41 AM
We are owners looking to celebrate what we love about our cosole of choice, not lament about it's shortcomings. I don't think this thread will inspire much interest in the mature posters, but probably serve as flame bait for the fan boys. Not really sure the productive point of this thread.

Edit: please don't come with the "don't post in it then if you don't like it". This is forum belongs to all of us, and we have a resposibility to keep things relevant and productive.

_Avarice_
06-23-08, 09:07 AM
... Not really sure the productive point of this thread.

Don't go looking, because you won't find one. Another brilliant thread :rolleyes:

so's your face
06-23-08, 09:19 AM
We are owners looking to celebrate what we love about our cosole of choice, not lament about it's shortcomings. I don't think this thread will inspire much interest in the mature posters, but probably serve as flame bait for the fan boys. Not really sure the productive point of this thread.
Edit: please don't come with the "don't post in it then if you don't like it". This is forum belongs to all of us, and we have a resposibility to keep things relevant and productive.

agreed 100%

the op seems to enjoy posting flame bait like this... this stuff should be left on n4g.com where console warring is encouraged. :rolleyes:

bassmonkeee
06-23-08, 09:21 AM
agreed 100%

the op seems to enjoy posting flame bait like this... this stuff should be left on n4g.com where console warring is encouraged. :rolleyes:


And, I wonder why I recently took him off of ignore. Time to rectify that error...

so's your face
06-23-08, 09:27 AM
And, I wonder why I recently took him off of ignore. Time to rectify that error...

hmmm... not a bad idea. i wonder if good ol' gslide needs some company on my ignore list! :D

kekborg
06-23-08, 09:51 AM
When I was a kid, I got bit by a dog...it hurt but I was ok.

Just wanted to contribute something and wasn't sure what to post :)

pengilly
06-23-08, 09:52 AM
Pointless

Cysquatch
06-23-08, 09:53 AM
....and posted at 2:47am no less. How many bottles of "liquid courage" were you into before hitting the new thread button? Sheesh.

IBTL

William Mapstone
06-23-08, 09:56 AM
With only one truly great game released we have seen console sales jump through the roof.
I found this line freaking hysterical for some odd reason.:confused::)

Kysersose
06-23-08, 10:00 AM
Post flamebait like this again and you'll be watching from the sidelines.

Kyser