Ex-PlayStation Boss: We Don't Need More Powerful Consoles, Wait What?
The comments come as the company he used to work for is getting set to release the PlayStation 5 Pro, which will cost $699.99 and has had a frosty reception as gamers are questioning if the upgrade is worth the price. Many of the comments after the console’s reveal align with his analysis that “it has plateaued. We’re at the stage of hardware development that I call ‘only dogs can hear the difference.”
There also needs to be a reevaluation of what makes a video game a video game because, “it’s not 80 hours, it’s not 90 hours, but if it is that’s a whole different category.” As video games have become more expensive to make with developers looking to maximize the hardware, games that clock in with that much play time take too long to release and make it more difficult to recoup costs.
A potential way to make the industry more sustainable are AA games that used to be the bread butter of companies such as THQ. The studios that still make these kinds of games need to capitalize on their unique position by delivering games quicker than larger studios. Layden emphasized the need to avoid releasing a "dollar store version of God of War," and to bring “the new thing” instead.
In an alternate gaming timeline, Layden becomes the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment instead of Jim Ryan. It’s interesting to think of the possibilities of what PlayStation might look like today with someone like him at the helm and the company being less focused on faster hardware, but do you agree? Do we really want to give up on pushing pixels harder for better visuals and realism?
