Sony’s PlayStation Network and Microsoft’s Xbox Live have butted heads for several years now and, while their delivery is extremely similar on the consumer’s side, recent reports have shown that developer’s see the, in a much different light. PSN developers are on the rise, with dozens of smaller companies choosing Sony. But why? The reason may surprise you.
A survey carried out by Gamasutra asked independent developers about their experience with all platforms, ranging from the PC’s Steam platform, to all three console variants. According to their findings, the most influential deciding factor when choosing a platform to develop for was ease of working with the platform owner. The survey then asked just how easy or difficult it has been working with each company, and dealing with the process of translating their work into a downloadable game available for millions of consumers through online stores.
While the majority of developers found working with Sony’s platform to be average, with about 10% finding it relatively easy, almost half stated that Microsoft has made the process “excruciating”. Even more alarmingly, no developers found Microsoft’s process to be simple, with few hurdles to jump.
When a small studio pours some money and love into producing a reasonably priced title, the last thing they want to deal with is difficulty in delivering that creation on a platform. This might explain why the XBL developer numbers compared to PSN, something that was also shown on a graph of the number of developers in the survey working on each platform:
What’s most important is what this means for the consumer, and thankfully it’s good news for the many who enjoy Sony’s products. While some PC-based services are the easiest to fall in love with for developers, Sony has the most welcoming offerings in the console ring, and as long as these trends continue, Sony’s gaming division will continue to reap the rewards through both happier consumers, and growing popularity.
