PSP Minis Pay A Premium For ESRB Ratings

Those who analogise the PSPgo, with its library of Minis titles, to the iPhone should remember that developing for both is not just about code. It’s also about the costs every Minis game must pay for an ESRB rating.

Sergei Gourski, developer of the iTunes App Store hit Fieldrunners, said PSP development is “definitely more serious business and not for casual non-developers.” Not only is investment in a dev kit “a must”, you must also set aside money for “getting ratings for your game.

“The costs of ratings such us ESRB is significantly more then we had realised.”

Fieldrunners, notes Gamasutra, is $US2.99 on the App Store where no rating is mandatory. It’s $US6,99 on the PlayStation Store, where its ESRB mark is pending. As Joystiq notes, such ratings can run $US2,500.

That said, Richard Stenson of Solus Games still sees PSP Minis development more for its opportunities than its drawbacks. He’s put out five titles for the App Store and ported one to the PSPgo. “All I know is five to seven years ago the idea of publishing a game I produced completely myself on two multi-million selling platforms and one of them carrying the name ‘PlayStation’ was only a pipe dream,” Solus told Gamasutra.

Devs Size Up PSP Minis Development Vs. App Store Games [Gamsutra via VG247]