PS3 costs scaring away developers

SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS may be scared away from developing for Sony's PS3 by the colossal investment required. And many may plumb for the Volish Xbox instead, a report suggests.

Japanese site ZakZak, translated here, muses on the upcoming battle between the PS3 and Xbox 360 and fears Sony's demanding standards could put it at a disadvantage. Their source suggests that developing software for the PS3 from scratch requires an initial investment of at least 2 billion yen (US $17.6 million) and that's before they start.

"There are not many software companies that can easily afford that kind of money,” he said. "This is nothing but a nightmare for many Japanese software development companies."

The sentiment is that many software developers will step towards the Xbox 360. Thanks to their inherent similarities 360 developers could also develop PC titles without incurring high R&D costs.

One developer down to work exclusively for Sony is already questioning whether this was the right decision, we hear. µ