Dev Accuses Sony of High TRC Certification Costs for PS4 Indie Games

Leonard Pitter, who is working on the indie title Nowhere, recently tweeted about how many indie games the PS4 would have but then added that Sony had “bribed” a few developers to port their titles. Then The Witness’ Jonathan Blow intervened and turned what was a normal albeit short rant into a rather revealing conversation. So yes, it’s kind of a funny story.

@paniq I do not think any bribes are involved.

— Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) November 15, 2013

@paniq I mean, they are curated, so what does _any_ mean? — Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) November 15, 2013

@paniq Who says? — Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) November 15, 2013

At this point, you’d wonder if Pitter has gone loony. However, he brings up the TRC/TCR (Technical Requirements Checklist for Sony, Technical Certification Requirements for Microsoft) certificates that each game is required to have. What are they? Think of them as documents given to developers and publishers detailing technical requirements for games on the platform in question. These documents are confidential, restricted to game testing organizations (though many requirements may fall outside the field) and as such not available to the public.

@paniq I think that is a bit of an overstatement. — Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) November 15, 2013

@Jonathan_Blow I’m not saying this was done on purpose; I’m saying the elephants didn’t worry much about mouse culture. — Leonard Ritter (@paniq) November 15, 2013

@paniq So you didn’t pay anything, it would just recoup from revenue. (I am not a big fan of TCRs. But I am just saying.) — Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) November 15, 2013

 

@Jonathan_Blow I was with a bigger dev in Hamburg; I was told a cert is in the 10k range which is why failing the cert repeatedly is costly.

— Leonard Ritter (@paniq) November 15, 2013

@Jonathan_Blow I wasn’t told that. That seems somewhat reasonable. — Leonard Ritter (@paniq) November 15, 2013

@paniq I am not sure how PS3 worked since I never did a deal there but I presume it is the same. — Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) November 15, 2013

@Jonathan_Blow with all the NDA’s people have to subscribe to, it’s no wonder. — Leonard Ritter (@paniq) November 15, 2013

Blow reveals that he has not set up publishing for The Witness yet (which is a timed exclusive for the PlayStation 4) and as such hasn’t seen any contracts.

@paniq I don’t know, I have not set up to publish The Witness yet.

— Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) November 15, 2013

@paniq So I have not seen the contracts or anything.

— Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) November 15, 2013

Nonetheless, it’s fairly interesting considering Sony’s pro-indie stance. Granted, this could be something – like with Microsoft’s SDK for developing on the Xbox 360, which was non-refundable and in the range $10,000 – that is required. Even so, could Sony bump it up just to ensure that only select publishers and developers which can take the financial hit get in?

Take this all with a grain of salt, because like in Glengarry Glen Ross, it’s two guys “just talking about it”. What are your thoughts on the same? Let us know below.