More games are hitting the market every day than ever before, but the total number of players doesn’t seem to be growing at nearly the same rate. Former SIE Worldwide Studios Chairman Shawn Layden says the discrepancy won’t be resolved by churning out endless big-budget sequels with more powerful hardware.
“If we just rely on the blockbusters to get us through, I think that’s a death sentence,” he said this week during an interview with Gordon Van Dyke, co-founder of indie publisher Raw Fury, at Gamescom Asia. accordingly Gamesindustry.biz
“That’s you [looking] With sequels, you’re dealing with copycats because the financiers who draw the line say, “Well, if.” Fortnite
A “hard reset” of the console arms race
During the event, Layden was also asked by VGC when the incremental improvements recently demonstrated on the controversial $700 PS5 Pro reveal the limits of new hardware. Despite the sticker shock, the new console’s improvements were hard to immediately notice for fans. Even a practical demo of The edge said the differences were barely noticeable at a distance of 10 feet.
“It’s plateaued,” Layden said VGC. “We’re in the phase of hardware development that I call ‘Only dogs can hear the difference.'” If you’re playing your game and sunlight hits your TV through your window, you won’t see ray tracing. It has to be super optimal… you have to have an 8K monitor in a dark room to see these things.”
The executive said the console power struggle had reached a “ceiling” and urged companies to compete on content, not specs. “It’s time for a real hard reset of the business model, a hard reset of what it is to be a video game,” he said VGC.
This isn’t the first time the former Sony veteran has taken part sounded the alarm about the long-term health of the gaming industry. Layden, who suddenly left the PlayStation console maker in 2019 followed by a major shakeup at the top, has long been warning about this unsustainable big-budget game development with each new hardware cycle and the stagnation of a medium that brings in more money every year without increasing the overall size of its audience.
Is Space Marine 2 Future or exception?
“It’s a $250 billion global business, but the actual number of players isn’t growing at the same pace,” Layden said in his Gamescom Asia interview with Gordon Van Dyke. “So we get more money from the same people. They need to get more people playing games. How do you do that? We need to get more people making games.” He suggested that companies look to support emerging developers in growing markets such as Indonesia and India.
But even as many lament the death of AA gaming, a middle ground between low-budget indies and $200 million blockbusters, it’s clear that some studios are still capable of succeeding in this increasingly precarious sweet spot to have. It was like that last year Rest IIA Dark souls-infused loot shooter. This year the time has come Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2a shooter that belongs to a major franchise and still manages to deliver a great looking game with a budget that was less than half that Eternal fate. Maybe it will happen next year Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33a French impressionist riff on that Final Fantasy turn-based RPG formula that looks great for its surprising price of $50.
Or maybe low-budget Steam hits are the new AA. Palworld, LandlordsAnd Balatro sold millions of copies, even without a huge publishing machine behind them. “AA is gone,” Layden said. “I think this is a threat to the ecosystem, if you will. So I look at indie stuff. With the advent of technologies like the latest Unreal Engine or what Unity can offer you, I think we can all say that the standard quality of video games today is quite high compared to ten years ago.”
