Console support in Godot

    • Register a developer account on the console manufacturer’s website, then sign NDAs and publishing contracts. This requires you to have a registered legal entity.

    • Get access to developer tools and order a console specially made for developers (devkit). The cost of those devkits is confidential.

    • Port the engine to the console platform or pay a company to do it.

    • To be published, your game needs to be rated in the regions you’d like to sell it in. For example, in North America, the handles game ratings. In Europe, this is done by PEGI. Indie developers can generally get a rating for cheaper compared to more established developers.

    Due to the complexity of the process, the budget to publish a game by yourself on a single console often exceeds $1,000 (this is a rough figure).

    • To develop for consoles, one must be licensed as a company. As an open source project, Godot does not have such a legal figure.

    • Consoles require specialized hardware to develop for, so regular individuals can’t create games for them anyway.

    However, it is still possible to port your games to consoles thanks to services provided by third-party companies.

    Note

    In practice, the process is quite similar to Unity and Unreal Engine, except that you need to contact a third-party developer to handle the porting process. In other words, there is no engine that is legally allowed to distribute console export templates without requiring the user to prove that they are a licensed console developer. Doing so would violate the console manufacturer’s NDA.

    Following is the list of providers:

    • offers Switch and PS4 porting and publishing of Godot games.

    • Pineapple Works offers Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S porting and publishing of Godot games.

    • offers Switch porting and publishing of Godot games.

    • mazette! games offers Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S porting and publishing of Godot games.