> Perhaps the most ingenious move on Sony’s part was its decision to use the PC as a development platform, enabling it to call on the skills of huge number of developers. Licensees now receive a pair of full-length ISA cards that plug into a normal PC. These two cards contain the entire PlayStation chipset, as well as extra RAM and some logic to enable them to talk to the PC. ‘lt’s great having the system inside the PC,’ reckons Peter Molyneux. ‘With most bulky console development systems it sometimes feels like you’re surrounded by NASA control.’
> Such technology doesn’t come cheap, though. PlayStation developers need to cough up £ 12,000 for the full system (which Sony is adamant it doesn’t make money on), although all subsequent software tools and hardware upgrades are free.
> Registering for the portal and downloading the tools is completely free.
Also, if you plan to release a digital only title, you can use the IARC system to retrieve the age rating for no fee, which will allow you to publish in all the participating countries.
All that is left is the cost of acquiring development hardware: you will find more information on this inside the portal.
> On 3/25/2021, the only Nintendo platform for which new development is possible will be Nintendo Switch.
> Development for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U will only be possible for those who have already purchased development hardware.
Those who do not have development hardware will not be able to develop.
> Individual accounts cost approximately $19 USD, and company accounts cost approximately $99 USD (the exact amounts may vary depending on your country or region). This is a one-time registration fee and no renewal is required.
(having some difficulty finding the specifics of the Xbox series X and series S dev kits)
--- --- ---
The point of this is that as a game device, the iPhone is in line with other developer programs and in some cases (Sony, looking at you) quite a bit less expensive.
---- Sony ----
https://www.retroreversing.com/official-playStation-devkit
> Perhaps the most ingenious move on Sony’s part was its decision to use the PC as a development platform, enabling it to call on the skills of huge number of developers. Licensees now receive a pair of full-length ISA cards that plug into a normal PC. These two cards contain the entire PlayStation chipset, as well as extra RAM and some logic to enable them to talk to the PC. ‘lt’s great having the system inside the PC,’ reckons Peter Molyneux. ‘With most bulky console development systems it sometimes feels like you’re surrounded by NASA control.’
> Such technology doesn’t come cheap, though. PlayStation developers need to cough up £ 12,000 for the full system (which Sony is adamant it doesn’t make money on), although all subsequent software tools and hardware upgrades are free.
---- Nintendo ----
https://developer.nintendo.com/faq
> Registering for the portal and downloading the tools is completely free. Also, if you plan to release a digital only title, you can use the IARC system to retrieve the age rating for no fee, which will allow you to publish in all the participating countries. All that is left is the cost of acquiring development hardware: you will find more information on this inside the portal.
https://developer.nintendo.com/home/development-for-nintendo...
> On 3/25/2021, the only Nintendo platform for which new development is possible will be Nintendo Switch.
> Development for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U will only be possible for those who have already purchased development hardware. Those who do not have development hardware will not be able to develop.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/nintendo-switch-dev-kit...
> At the Game Creators Conference 2017 in Osaka, Japan, Nintendo announced that Switch development kits would only cost 50,000 yen, or roughly $450.
> To put things in perspective, a PlayStation 3 development kit ran for $20,000 at launch.
---- Microsoft ----
https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-store/regist...
> Individual accounts cost approximately $19 USD, and company accounts cost approximately $99 USD (the exact amounts may vary depending on your country or region). This is a one-time registration fee and no renewal is required.
(having some difficulty finding the specifics of the Xbox series X and series S dev kits)
--- --- ---
The point of this is that as a game device, the iPhone is in line with other developer programs and in some cases (Sony, looking at you) quite a bit less expensive.