- Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says developers must lead with innovation to justify the rising cost of consoles
- He says studios are “limiting our reach just by the games we’re making now.”
- While grand theft car 6 will be a success, Layden says “there are a lot of people in the world who really don’t care”
Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden believes studios need to start investing in unique games that appeal to a wider audience to justify the rising cost of consoles.
The price of hardware has increased in recent years. We can blame the rising cost of manufacturing, shortages caused by AI data centers eating up all the components, or inflation. For some reason, the current landscape is a mess and the next generation is sure to be expensive.
As Sony and Microsoft increase the price of current-gen systems, despite the PS5 and Xbox Series It doesn’t seem out of the question considering Valve just released the Steam Machine, a hybrid console and PC, for the same cost.
From the little we know about the PS6, we can expect technical improvements over the PS5, which could mean better ray tracing and higher frame rates. With PlayStation planning to end physical disc production in 2028, analysts predict that it could unfortunately also be an all-digital console.
But would this justify a $1,000 price tag? According to Layden, who spoke about the changing industry in an interview with Kotaku, that’s not the case, and Sony will need to lead software innovation to attract gamers.
“I mean, really, how much more ray tracing can you put in there?” said. “And will my eyes really see 120 frames per second?”
Layden can’t say what the PS6 will look like compared to the PS5 since he hasn’t worked at Sony since 2019, but if there’s a chance the technical gap between the two consoles is too close, things need to change in the software.
“I think we’re already limiting our scope just by the games we’re building now. I mean, the variety and scope seem to be shrinking,” Layden said. “Most games fall into a standard set of categories.”
He pointed out the game genres we’ve been seeing over the years, including zombie apocalypse and space marine games, action titles with “guys with very long swords and little armor, and dragons.”
Layden then mentioned GTA 6and although he acknowledged that the game will be a huge success, some players don’t care.
“So, you see those categories and, of course, grand theft car “It’s going to be like an asteroid that will pass through the atmosphere and hit the video game universe with great force and power,” he stated. “But there are a lot of people in the world who really don’t care grand theft carthe community outside of games.”
He went on to explain: “We talk about how big we are, $220 billion, $250 billion industry, but our social impact is the opposite. Everyone has a favorite song. That’s probably the least revenue-generating entertainment category, music, compared to games, film and television. But it still has the broadest impact. So games, they’re huge on the revenue side, but it’s a very select group that’s doing it.
“We get more money from the same people all the time and we don’t necessarily bring new people into the experience. And if these people who are not in the gaming experience have already said ‘we don’t care Obligationswe don’t care grand theft carwe don’t care Grand Tourism“Making more of those same games obviously won’t attract those people either.”
While Layden believes discoverability is one facet of the problem, the main problem is creativity, and if developers “close ranks” and continue making shooters that appeal to what the “base user” wants, things will be fine, “but we won’t grow any more. We won’t bring more people to the store. And that’s probably bad.”
He added: “We need to release more games for more people, which means that we actually have to have more people creating games and in different places and different experiences. I want to know what Uruguayan games are like and what kind of game designers we have in Bulgaria.”
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