Former PlayStation Boss Talks About The “Collapse Of Creativity” In AAA Game Development
During a Gamescom Asia panel, former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden spoke about the current state of the gaming industry and how the disappearance of AA studios had contributed to a “collapse of creativity” in modern games. Layden explained how the rise in development costs had led to studios placing a stronger emphasis on post-launch monetization plans and following trends to remain risk-adverse.
“You didn’t worry so much about the end piece, for better or for worse. Of course back then you didn’t make a game for millions [of] dollars. So your risk tolerance was fairly high, Layden said (via GamesIndustry.Biz). “Today, the entry costs for making a AAA game is in triple-digit millions now. I think, naturally, risk tolerance drops. And you’re [looking] at sequels, you’re looking at copycats, because the finance guys who draw the line say, ‘Well, if Fortnite made this much money in this amount of time, my Fortnite knockoff can make this in that amount of time.’ We’re seeing a collapse of creativity in games today [with] studio consolidation and the high cost of production.”
Layden added that while the quality of indie games had risen, the AA space that had been dominated by companies like Interplay, Gremlin, Ocean, and THQ has seemingly vanished. With the options being either indie games or AAA blockbusters, Layden believes that this is a dangerous situation for the gaming industry to be in right now.
