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I've seen before a topic here asking if there is any significant differences between using PALib or Nintendo's Nitro SDK... and that got me curious: what does it take to obtain the official SDK ?

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5 Answers

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Costs I can't speak on personally, and I don't know if anyone who is a licensed developer can either. But there are some requirements that I do know of. I don't imagine it is that expensive because from what I saw around the internet the development kit for the Wii is under 5k.

What will cost you however, is having a brick-and-motar location dedicated to your studio's work. Nintendo requires this of it's licensees.

Following that, they also request back financials so that they can ensure that you would actually have the resources to bring your game to market.

If you think you qualify, you can fill out the application to become a licensed Nintendo Developer.

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I believe that the 5k development kit for the Wii was only for the downloadable indie game store type of thing, and a "full development kit" would cost an order of magnitude more. This is a common thing for all indie SDKs, though. – thedaian Jul 11 '11 at 20:26
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It feels like a pain that, apart from Xbox XNA, others don't have a indie friendly agreement. – iamcreasy Jul 11 '11 at 20:37
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@iamcreasy Yeah, I find the 3DS a handheld with a lot of potential but, as a hobbyist, I can't do much but wait for some 3rd party SDK and Flashcards to do my own experiments (Which I don't even know if they consider legal or not). They could at least offer a simpler license so you could sell stuff at the eShop. I would love it. – Conrad Clark Jul 12 '11 at 10:51
@thedaian You are right, Nintendo lists development licenses as being 2000 - 10000 depending on the size of your team. From what I can glean from the application it seems like you pay to become a registered developer and then you pay to get the development devices you require (at Nintendo's discretion) – Noctrine♦ Jul 12 '11 at 15:24
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Yes, they will investigate to make sure you are a legitimate company and all that, and they will likely want to talk to you and possibly have face-to-face meetings. Generally, alas, if you have to ask this kind of question you aren't in a position to become an officially licensed developer. – Josh Petrie Jan 28 '12 at 4:48
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up vote 2 down vote

$2,000 to $10,000 is the range given by Nintendo.

From Nintendo of America:

Development Kits: Approximate development costs range from $2,000 to $10,000, depending on the size of your team. Financial stability is expected by Authorized Developers in order to purchase the necessary development equipment for your project.

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Do you have a source for these numbers? – Jim Mar 1 '12 at 5:16
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"Development Kits: Approximate development costs range from $2,000 to $10,000, depending on the size of your team. Financial stability is expected by Authorized Developers in order to purchase the necessary development equipment for your project." (Nintendo of America [warioworld.com/apply/]) – Matt Jensen Mar 3 '12 at 6:21
up vote 1 down vote

I'd say in most cases it's handled by the publisher. Don't have a publisher/want to self publish? Nintendo probably doesn't want to talk to you, then. If you had some industry connections it might be a different story, of course.

It's a case of "if you have to ask, you'll never know".

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up vote 0 down vote

A couple of years ago I developed on the DS, the DS-Lite kit costed 1800$ which was way cheaper than any other dev-kit at the moment.

The Wii was a bit more expensive (I don't remember, 2500? 3500?) but you need to have at least two types, one for development (the black box) and one for creating the masters (green I think but I'm not sure).

For what it is worth: Unofficially "everyone knew" that you had to request twice for being granted to be an authorised Nintendo developer...

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up vote -3 down vote

As far as I know, for all major console development, you have to get development kit from the respective developers which requires a lot of money & signed contract.

However you can check it out, Nintendo DS homebrew

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-1, "What does it cost to get the official SDK rather than homebrew?" is not answered by "Nintendo gives you the official SDK" (duh) nor "Don't use the official SDK." – Joe Wreschnig Jul 11 '11 at 21:54
@joe-wreschnig It partially answers "what does it take to have/buy the official SDK". – iamcreasy Jul 12 '11 at 7:07

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