Content approval process abolished for PS2 in Europe

Now "effectively an open platform"

29 October 2008 15:44 GMT / By Verity Burns

Sony has announced that it is abolishing the content approval process for PlayStation 2.

Speaking at the Casual Connect conference in Kiev, SCEE's George Bain described the PS2 would now be "effectively an open platform" in Europe.

"You no longer have to submit a game for content approval," added Bain.

The move is thought to be an attempt to encourage regional developers in countries such as India and Russia to make "low-development cost titles and release them in their market".

Bain also revealed that Sony's entire approvals process has been streamlined into a single global system. This means developers will only have to submit their game to one website for approval, rather than different ones for different regions.

Furthermore, once a game makes it through the approval process, any future downloadable content for the game will not need to be approved further.

With over 120 million installed PS2s in households around the world, the open platform news in particular is a big deal. Time to get your developing hats on...

Full tags

Gaming, PS2, PS3, Sony, Games industry