I at all times appreciated the candor of Shawn Layden, the ex-head of PlayStation who left his function as CEO of SIE in 2019. And now that he’s out of the corporate, he has been much more candid about his opinions on all issues, together with his former firm.
Layden gave an attention-grabbing interview to GamesBeat that touches on a frequent subject currently, the ballooning value of AAA video games and the way it’s changing into unsustainable, which incorporates being an issue for PlayStation.
Now that video games value means, far more than they used to, the economics of scale for distribution not make sense with the restricted PS4/5 set up base. They typically can’t adequately get well these prices or make important revenue regardless of what number of are offered throughout the PlayStation ecosystem, and that drawback is barely growing in time. Right here’s Layden:
“If you happen to’re spending $250 million, you need to have the ability to promote it to as many individuals as potential, even when it’s simply 10% extra. The worldwide put in base for consoles–in case you return to the PS1 and every little thing else stacked up there, wherever in time you have a look at it, the cumulative consoles on the market by no means will get over 250 million. It simply doesn’t. The {dollars} have gone up over time. However I have a look at that and see that we’re simply taking extra money from the identical folks.”
Layden cites PlayStation doing a very good job with Helldivers 2, releasing that sport on PlayStation and PC on the similar time, which has dramatically elevated its fortunes. However whereas PlayStation has dedicated to doing that with different f2p multiplayer video games, they nonetheless appear to need to institute prolonged delays for PC releases of their huge cinematic video games. They’re extra open to adapting them interval, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a interval of lag. And there doesn’t appear to be any probability in any respect of them placing their huge video games on Xbox, one thing Xbox itself is now beginning to dabble with.
As a lot as I like Layden, I’ve to take his opinions with a little bit of a grain of salt, given what he’s at present doing. Layden is now an advisor to Readygg, a blockchain/NFT endeavor. Right here’s the way it’s described on the web site:
“READYgg’s layer 3 platform provides plug-and-play infrastructures constructed on layer 0 for seamless interoperability throughout blockchain networks to combine web3 performance and NFT assist into any sport.”
We definitely haven’t seen many mainstream video games with a want to combine “web3 performance and NFT assist,” as the thought has failed colossally within the core gaming scene, and former, frequently-cited “success” examples like Axie Infinity all however collapsed. Extra video games are being made nevertheless it’s nonetheless a small scene. Right here’s Layden on the thought, addressing crypto sport skepticism:
“That’s all blown by, I believe. A variety of the NFT craze is gone now. Crypto is the place it’s. However we’re trying on the enabling expertise. There have been the get wealthy fast schemes three to 5 years in the past. However do these underlying applied sciences have a larger objective? Are they fixing issues? I have a look at READYgg and say, “Are you able to clear up the issue of used digital video games? Can we create a market the place everybody who added to the worth of that sport, largely the developer and writer, can reap rewards by the reselling of that IP?”
Yeah, probably not optimistic about that, even when I do recognize his bigger factors about PlayStation and the challenges they face now. I don’t assume smaller firms making a bunch of blockchain video games with altered income fashions are the answer to bigger funds and distribution points, even when it holds as a distinct segment market. However PlayStation, and different AAA studios, are going to wish to give you new methods sooner or later right here.
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Decide up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller collection and The Earthborn Trilogy.