If people have wondered how much a PS4 Dev kit costs. It is 2500$ but the best part is that many many Indy developer are getting Devkits for free.

Although this $2,500 price is being cited in development circles, the game-makers we spoke to all said that Sony had lent them dev kits for a limited period of one year, for free. As of right now, there are no dev kits being sold. Sony is sending whatever it has available to favored developers. "All the indies I know got them for free," said one developer. "Sony has been amazing about kits and development thus far."

http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/24/4553842/so-how-much-does-it-cost-to-develop-for-playstation-4

Also think about the fact that these Devkits have no restrictions whatsoever while the "Cheap" and not "real" Xbox One dev kit has a lot of restrictions and they need to pay MS a not told fee as well.

Oh darji posting a pro Sony anti Xbox thread? Weird.

While I do not know Mr. darji's post history, I feel the fact that many developers came out and criticize MS for dishonesty in their marketing speak is very valid. Many have publish on arcade and some still have upcoming game coming and they still slam MS. MS announcing self publishing is great but almost instantly devs are going on twitter claiming there are more to this story. This is not hate or "Sony fanboy". This is a company that have lost A LOT of faith with their audience and also potential partners.

Le sigh.

Dude, I'm as down on MS for their shady shit as you are, but calling the ability to develop on a standard XOne a not "real" dev kit is just nonsense. There will still be fully featured boxes for big companies, sure, but the fact that I alone in my apartment can still make a game for a console is a benefit. I'm not missing out on anything.

I deeply believe this generation that Sony is more interested in supporting indies, but as a solo developer they're not gonna send me that thing for free, and $500 is a lot fucking less than $2,500.

Pick your battles, this isn't one of them.

And really, if you couldn't afford $2500 then you're not really good at running a business.

Look into his post history. You will understand.

@joshwent: If you only have 3 GB like it is rumored to your free use and not full access to the system itself it is very limited and more like XNA 2.0. So yeah I will not call this the real devkit at all.

With Sony it might be more expensive but first of all it is a true devkit with full access to everything and Sony is loaning as much they can. A ton of Indy developers already gotten one for free or at least free for a year.

Also many people already noting that MS is not telling the whole truth to all of this. It is looking more like a PR move nothing else. Also it is not available at day one or even before but more like a year later.

Anyone who believes a $500 XBO is going to take the place of a full dev kit should probably sit down...

Also, this indie thing is getting out of hand. I love indies, but I'm buying a next gen console for the likes of Naughty Dog and Guerrilla Games. I got a PC that'll play indies, and I got like 400 of them on my Steam account that I bought on sale and haven't touched with the exception of a few standouts like Don't Starve, Gun Monkeys, and GunPoint.

It's surreal to see how we've gone from worrying about how powerful these consoles will be to cheerleading voxels and sprites.

This anti microsoft stuff is getting out of hand, it's just tiresome. I'm going for a Ps4 and not a X1, but I do not understand the crusade of some people. I don't like the word fanboy, but I do understand why some are being labeled as such.

The news in itself don't appear to be anti-microsoft. Although in the end of the post there is the "needless" comparison with the Xbox One.

Sony seems to be playing hard from the start of the generation.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-24-microsoft-will-allow-self-publishing-after-all-rumour

UPDATE #2: After the dust has settled on Microsoft's latest policy change, Retro City Rampage developer Brian Provinciano has offered hints that all may not be quite as good as it seems.

"This is yet another example of them changing policy, but it sounding better than it is when the whole story is revealed," Provinciano told Engadget. "Make no mistake; while this is a great thing, it's again not the equivalent to what other platforms offer."

"On PS4, for example, developers can tap right into the system; use every bit of RAM and all of its power. Indies have access to everything that the AAA studios do, from platform support to development and release. The indication on Xbox One is that it's essentially XBLIG 2.0. Instead of XNA, it's Windows 8. Windows 8, which is already struggling to gain developer interest, will gain a boost from developers wishing to target the console. However, it won't be as full-fledged as published games on the system."

...

"After my experience working with them to release on Xbox 360, I have no interest in even buying an Xbox One, let alone developing for it. The policy changes are great, but they don't undo the experience I had. I'm not ready to forget what I went through. Working with Microsoft was the unhappiest point of my career. Policies are one thing, but developer relations are another.

"It's important to me that consumers don't see things as black and white. There are still strings attached to this policy change."

Since this isn't going to be ready until quite a bit after launch, MS could change any aspect about this already vague announcement, for better or worse, at any given time. I don't plan to buy an Xbox One at launch anyway, so I'll just wait and see how this all works once it has actually materialized.

Cool. Whatever makes it easier for developers, the better games we can get.

Shit's going to hit the fan as soon as that loan ends and they ask for some pay for the kits.

I'm guessing they hope that the developers will do well with their games, thus getting them the funds to then purchase full devkits. That way, everyone wins.

I think this is just a win-win situation for consumers. Sony has shown they're serious about catering to indies, up to this point better and more transparently than Microsoft. Now to compete with Sony Microsoft will need to show that they care about indies as well, even more. Either way there's some good competition going on here and I think both consoles will be very good for indies next gen. I'm putting my money on Sony atm, but Microsoft can certainly turn that around.

You know at some point though some developer isn't going to have a good selling game, their dev. kit loan will end, and they will throw a fit on the internet and people on forums everywhere will call for Sony's head.

The "these ... is getting out of hand" comments are getting out of hand.

That's great! It's one less obstacle for developers to make great games for us to enjoy. I'm really happy to see Sony's willingness to give developers of all sizes as much support as they can. Microsoft seems to be coming around as well now that they allow self publishing. Hopefully we'll see a lot of awesome stuff on both of the new consoles moving forward.The Indie renaissance can go forth with full force!

Silver Dollar Games will continue to make garbage now on both platforms i assume.

With all the exclusive indie titles Sony seems to be picking up, it's no surprise to me they hand out these devkits alot. It's a very simple part of Sony's on going battle of desperately trying to prove themselves to developers who may remember their not so good prelaunch PS3 devkits. They're also attempting to steal away small indie teams who are, or may be considering developing for Microsoft. To be honest, it's almost exactly what Microsoft did at the beginning of this generation.

Well, then hopefully people will note that those hypothetical people are idiots. When agreeing to a dev kit loan, it is clear that it is a loan for a single year, and that any use after that would require purchasing the dev kit. The point being that some people who can't afford it now can hopefully afford it down the line. There is no suggestion that Sony is giving PS4 dev kits away for free. Instead, they're giving incentive for smaller devs to be able to try out and work on the PS4 before paying the hefty dev kit pricetag.

While it may be possible that some idiots might complain at some point, people online would have no reason but to mock these people for thinking they were getting something that expensive for free. I can see the cynical reasoning of worrying about idiots, but I think it will ultimately have little to do with the resulting reality.

I wouldn't be too sure about that. Their latest game is one of the best Xbox Live Indie Channel tittles that I've played:

http://www.giantbomb.com/one-finger-death-punch/3030-43019/forums/this-is-the-divekick-of-beat-em-ups-and-it-s-only--1446105/#5