SvennoJ on 28 April 2016
| mutantsushi said: This "PS4K sucks becuz developer workload" is ridiculous. Solely on basis of PS4 install base, it is already worthwhile even if it meant 2x the workload of PS4.0 only. (and it won't) Even if PS4K doesn't result in net gain in sales over existing PS4 (i.e. the PS4k specific work is just a "tax" on PS4 game dev), that existing PS4 base and sales trend makes it worthwhile. If a dev didn't like the overhead of developing for a distinct platform, they would drop XBone based on it's install base/sales. XBone actually IS a distinct platform with unique architecture, unlike PS4K which just beefs up PS4 platform. The idea that "indy devs" would be most hurt is sillier just because those are not pushing hardware boundaries to begin with, they are the most likely to already be at 1080p to begin with... And the PS4 install base/sales is still the best market for them to target. |
Indie devs are hurt more as it is a bigger chunk of their budget for the extra testing/QA, plus they have to buy extra devkits.
Indie devs have the most to lose with increased QA costs
Publishing on consoles already costs a lot more
http://numbers.kotaku.com/total-cost-of-publishing-an-indie-game-last-week-sixty-1618376285
yet still better than getting drowned on Steam.
But true, big publishers can easily absorb the cost, just takes a bit longer to finish a game. There's no chance they'll abandon the ps4, yet 40 pounds extra DLC for the full game might happen sooner on ps4 too. I guess that's the overhead costs for launching on the smaller platform.
