Start-up indie studios will be pleased to know that the barrier-to-entry for PS Vita development is considerably lower than it was on the PS3 and PSP. SCEE account manager George Bain has revealed that the cost of a Vita dev kit will ring in at only “€1,900 plus VAT.”

That’s quite cheap, a staggering drop from the initial €20,000 cost for PS2 and PS3, and €15,000 for a PSP kit when it first launched. Sony wasn’t bluffing when it said it wanted to appeal more to indies this time around.

“There is no cost to join the PS Vita Develop Program,” Bain told Develop. “There’s just that cost of the dev kit. If you’re a small developer, we happy to talk to you about this. It will help if you have a games portfolio. There’s no reason we won’t speak with smaller studios about joining up.”

Additionally, for titles sponsored through SCEA’s PubFund program, it will be giving away dev kits for free. This definitely bodes well for the PS Vita’s digital presence. With such a low start-up cost, we’ll likely see plenty of indie studios make the jump.

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