Sony Makes It Hard To Develop For the PS3 On Purpose

[wraggster]

CNet reports on a bizarre comment from Sony's Computer Entertainment CEO in response to complaints from developers on how hard it is to develop games for the Playstation 3. 'We don't provide the "easy to program for" console that (developers) want, because "easy to program for" means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is, what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?' Given that games heavily drive console sales, and the fact that the PS3 is already 8 million units behind the Xbox 360, I think making a developer's job harder is the last thing Sony needs.

http://games.slashdot.org/games/09/03/01/1522259.shtml

[sorceror]

As noted in the comments, there, this is a case of bad phrasing and translation.

The idea is that Sony made an advanced console, with a lot of new features and new ideas, and for that reason it's harder to program for than something like the Xbox 360, where the CPU is much more like a standard desktop CPU.

The exec is essentially saying that the 360 is going to 'max out' a lot earlier than the PS3 because programmers already know how to get the most out of the 360. But the PS3 has room to grow, and will still be viable and improving a few years down the road.

Now, whether that's true or not is a separate question, but it's a much more comprehensible statement.