More for the benefit of PS Vita than Android, Sony has announced the launch of the PlayStation Suite SDK, designed to help developers work on all the portal's supported formats at the same time.

The new kit covers every platform carrying PlayStation Suite – from the Android based Xperia handsets and forthcoming tablets Sony S and Sony P, to the firm's next handheld PS Vita – and is designed to encourage Android studios to branch out beyond mobile.

Spreading the base

The idea is, developers working on Android releases will also be able to deploy them across Sony's range of portable devices, expanding their potential consumer base and boosting the number of games on Sony's systems as a reslt.

"Through PS Suite SDK, SCE will provide to game developers and publishers the potential to further expand their business opportunities to Android based portable devices," Sony said in a statement.

"By supporting development for multiple devices and by adopting libraries to create a variety of content not only limited to games, PS Suite SDK will not only help developers save their cost in creating new content but also allow them to efficiently create their content on one SDK and without having to create on several different SDKs."

Software star

Sony has already confirmed it plans to release 600 downloadable PSP titles within PS Vita's launch window, adding to a library of 100 original games from day one.

The addition of Android games via PlayStation Suite could see the handheld hitting the ground running in its early months, and excelling in one of the areas where 3DS is currently weak – digital downloads.

PS Suite SDK will begin to roll out in November, supporting C# as its programming language. Sony is yet to announce any costs involved, though it has confirmed no games will launch on the platform until the spring.

[source: PR Newswire]