E for Expensive - ESRB rating costs concern Fieldrunners developer |
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Despite the Minis name, development for Sony's new PSP program is by no means a small task, particularly for smaller developers. Gamasutra got in touch with a few developers supporting PSP Minis, and one of the things they got out of the interviews is a big concern for making smaller, cheaper games for the PSP. Who would've thought that the cost to get ESRB ratings could be so steep?
"Developing for the PSP is definitely more serious business and not for casual non-developers," said Sergei Gourski, co-founder of Subatomic Studios. "Having game development experience is a must. You have to invest some money into dev kits and into getting ratings for your game. The costs of ratings such us ESRB is significantly more then we had realized."
Fieldrunners, an App Store favorite developed by Subatomic, is at US$ 6.99 on the PlayStation Store. On the App Store, where there are still no ESRB ratings, Fieldrunners is just at US$ 2.99. While developing for different platforms will have their own measure of costs, the cost of the ESRB rating will definitely influence game pricing, especially when the aim is to go as low as you can. Joystiq reports that a post at GameDev.net has the rating price at US$ 2,500.
You can check out the source for more info.
ESRB wants to rate the App Store:
Via Gamasutra
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Comments [refresh]
Oh give me a break, Sony's actually requiring small developers to deal with the ESRB. I mean seriously, they just WANT to fail don't they?
Actually is mandatory for each and every game that wants to be released on the states.
the games that get released need to obtain an ESRB rating to be allowed publishing...i don't know the case with the app store, but all PSP games need an ESRB rating
you say mandatory like it's a law. It's the stupid way publishers decided to make a system standard. Why would app devs have to deal with the esrb, they never have before on other platforms. Just have sony evaluate it and give a general rating with its own ranges. ESRB is for people who can't sit down and look into a game before buying it for their kid anyway....
has their own rating system. no esrb, no $2500 fee.
Sony has a contract with the ESRB while Apple doesn't.
ESRB is NOT mandatory. They are a voluntary system. They are in no way required. However, Sony is requiring developers to rate with ESRB or not get published.
The only reason you see it everywhere is because the publishers and/or system creators (Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony) require it. There is NO LAW that says a game has to be released with an ESRB rating.
http://www.esrb.org/ratings/faq.jsp#2