During the later stages of his PlayStation tenure, former executive Shawn Layden oversaw some of the most important projects in his organization’s history, including Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War. But the history of clothing in the video game industry, as it is eager to point it out frequently, dates back decades to the times of Vib-Ribbon. He has seen, then, that budgets are being saved and that is a concern.
Speaking to Bloomberg, he noted that costs “seem to double” each generation, with some of Sony’s top titles costing up to $ 100 million on PlayStation 4. “If we can’t keep the cost curve from rising, everything all we can do is try to risk it, “he said.” This puts you in a place where you are encouraged to follow through. “
The sequels to PlayStation are always combined with the new intellectual property, but, as Layden points out, it will be harder to justify such decisions. “What happens is that you end up with 3-4 game silos or types of games that still exist, and the variety is extracted,” he explained, noting also how publishers are chasing the next billion-dollar phenomenon, like Minecraft. and Fortnite.
But certainly Layden, in his later days, didn’t play a role in this trend toward bigger, more expensive games? After all, he would have participated in the signing of projects such as Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us: Part II. “I think I’ve helped show the world how an amazing game can be,” he said.
Hermen Hulst, current head of PlayStation Studios, recently said that Sony has 25 PS5 exclusives in development and noted that “almost half” are new franchises. I was also eager to stress that “there’s an incredible variety of variety” that encompasses “big, small, [and] different genres ”. So it looks like there will be a good mix of things coming out in the foreseeable future, which is reassuring to know.