Sony halves cost of PSP developer tools

Sony hope that the move to cut the price of PSP developer tools will lead to more games

SN Networks, the subsidiary of Sony that provides development tools for the PSP, has announced that from today onwards the cost of development tools will be halved.

“Reducing the cost of the tools will help to ensure that PSP game title developers have everything they need to continue creating great titles. This price reduction, coupled with the recent addition of Tuner to ProDG for PSP, makes the core development tool a very attractive package," said Andy Beveridge, director of SN Systems.

The decision covers full and rental ProDG for PS Tuner, Build Tools and ProView licenses ordered through SN Systems. In addition to the cuts on developer hardware, SN Networks will also be cutting its support fees in half.

"SN Systems development tools for PSP are well-established and mature, having been on sale since the end of 2004. Since then, the tools have grown extensively as a result of direct feedback from PSP game title developers,” he added.

The move comes hot on the heels of a similar move last November to halve the cost of PS3 developer tools. Sony will no doubt be hoping that the discount brings more developers on side to help the PSP compete with Nintendo’s extensive catalogue of games for the DS.

Despite the PSP being older than the DS it lags some way behind in the total number of games available. Games website SPOnG reports that it currently lists 658 DS titles on its database, while the PSP has 542 entries.