Former Sony Interactive Entertainment executive Shawn Layden, a vocal critic of ever-rising AAA development budgets, has estimated that PlayStation 5 games will cost roughly $200 million to make.
In an interview with Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Layden recalled that some of the big-budget PS4 blockbusters he oversaw cost around $100 million to make back then. Video game budgets have since risen exponentially. According to Layden, this is primarily why innovation is being stifled and publishers aren’t willing to take risks. He’s of the view that companies want to play it safe considering the costs of making a game, and as a result, we either see annualized titles like Call of Duty and EA Sports games, or companies follow trends like battle royale and live service.
“If we can’t stop the cost curve from going up, all we can do is try to de-risk it,” Layden argued. “That puts you in a place where you’re incentivized toward sequels. What happens there is you end up with 3-4 silos of games or game types that continue to exist, and variety is squeezed out.”
Layden takes the blame for Sony’s push towards larger worlds, which has now become somewhat of a games industry obsession.
“I think I contributed a part into showing the world what amazing gameplay can look like,” he continued.
Layden revealed that he’s in the “last act” of his career, indicating that he will retire after his current role as an advisory board member for entertainment company, Streamline Media Group. “My goal in the last act of my career is really to bring more people into gaming creation, more people from all over the world, [and] bring more people into the enjoyment of gaming,” he said.
[Source: Bloomberg]
