Apparently, several game developers are unhappy with the fact that Sony has yet to release final PS3 development kits this late in the launch cycle. The primary complainers appear to be Sega of America, and THQ. THQ indicated that their decision to not release a version of The Sopranos on the PS3 hinged on the fact that they didn’t know what the final specification would be; this rings a bit hollow, since there is going to be an Xbox 360 version, and realistically, the developers should know approximately how powerful the hardware will be. Instead, a version of the game will be released for the much less powerful PS2. Sega of America is complaining, but it doesn’t seem like the American division of Sega does that much original development now, instead working with companies like Monolith and Pseudo Interactive, who are developing Full Auto 2 exclusively for the PS3. Full Auto 2 is scheduled to ship this Fall, close within the launch window of the PS3, so one wonders how much this actually is impacting development.

The top two US game publishing houses, Electronic Arts and Activision both had no issues with the state of the development kits, and Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot indicated that late development kits were basically a fact of the industry.

It should also be noted that Microsoft was also late with the Xbox 360 final development kits; these kits didn’t ship until roughly two months before the launch date, and 18 titles still made the release. Admittedly, some of the titles didn’t particularly take advantage of the strengths of the Xbox 360. Indeed, out of the list of launch games, it would be hard to pick a game outside of the first and second party releases that really showed what the Xbox 360 could do.

Sony is targeting 15 titles for launch, and one would expect that many of these titles would be the same mix of sequels from EA and Activision as seen in the past. One would hope that developers experiences in developing on the Xbox 360 would carry over to the PS3 somewhat, so the game titles should be close to Xbox 360 quality. Sony still hasn’t announced which titles would be available at launch, so it is unclear whether there will be a system selling title that will convince the average gamer that the console is worth picking over the Xbox 360.

Still, given that launch supplies are going to be extremely slim anyway, the concern over the quality of software may not matter. Sony should blow through their first batch of consoles fairly easily, and by the time software comes out to really press the hardware, there may even be consoles available to purchase.

Certainly the state of the development kits is a concern, but Sony still has time before launch to get the kits out. Microsoft cut things really closely last year, but still had a relatively solid launch, and if Sony sticks to roughly the same timeline, gamers should expect the same for the PS3 this year.

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