PSPgo games will be as cheap as iPhone games

Product: PSPgo | Publisher: Sony

by Jon Jordan

With the rumour mill speeding up prior to Sony's press conference at the Gamescom show in Cologne, Germany, next week, news has been leaked concerning the price of PSP games for the soon-to-be revitalised PlayStation Network (PSN).

Pocket Gamer has learned that these will be priced at 1, 2 and 5 Euros, making them the equivalent of the games available via Apple's App Store.

In fact, the highest priced games on the App Store are $9.99 - currently The Sims 3 and Real Racing - making PSN cheaper at the top end.

It's a significant move as Sony has been hit by criticism concerning the price of the PSPgo hardware ($250, £230).

Ensuring the price of games is much lower than previously experienced on the PlayStation Network provides a strong incentive for people to shell out for the heavily revised hardware.

This low pricing structure for games also means Sony will have relaxed its business model to enable small development studios to get involved with PSP.

There's no news concerning the revenue split between Sony and developers and publishers, but we'd be surprised if it's not the 70:30 that's become standard thanks to Apple's adoption of it for the App Store.

In addition, Pocket Gamer has learned that Sony has been actively sourcing iPhone developers to bring existing titles to PSN.

Obviously some rework is required due to different screen size - 480 x 272 versus 480 x 320 - not to mention transposing touch controls to joypad, D-pad and buttons - but the bulk of game logic and artwork is likely to remain the same.

Sony isn't taking a leaf out of Apple's book when it comes to easing the process of publishing, however.

Games will continue to go through formal console-centric Technical Requirement Check (TRC) requirements, as well as a two week quality assurance testing period.

Sony will also actively control the release schedule for games, although considering the current disquiet over Apple's laissez faire attitude to app approval and release, this might not be a bad thing.

At least we can expect a full launch line up of titles when PSPgo is released on 1 October.

Over 50 developers have been signed up to produce content for the existing PSP and new PSPgo hardware via the digital distribution PSN channel.

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