Former SIE Worldwide Studio President Shawn Layden, who oversaw all of Sony’s game studios (resigned in 2019), has been critical of the skyrocketing development costs of games multiple times. In a recent interview with GameBeat, Layden discussed the situation where game companies are laying off a large number of employees in early 2024, including former Sony executives. Layden’s main point remains the same – game development costs are too high, while the console market remains stagnant.
Layden mentioned that when game development costs exceed $200 million (as in the case of the $315 million budget for Spider-Man 2), creating exclusive console games becomes a weak point because the addressable market is too small. The appropriate approach would be to expand the customer base, even by just 10%, which is still beneficial. The console player base has been around 250 million since the PS1 era, and efforts to increase it have not been successful enough in enticing non-console owners to buy one.
Layden also compared our world to the era of live service or free-to-play games, where 95% of players never spend money in-game, and the paying player base is limited. Thus, game companies must expand their player base as much as possible. The example of Helldivers 2, launching on PC along with PlayStation, is a good illustration as it helps widen the player base.
Sony’s once-promoted “Only on PlayStation” exclusive games are now available on PC as well. In the interview, Layden also criticized games that use blockchain technology to monetize but fail to address why gamers should play them, which he views as a misguided approach. However, Layden is now a consultant for the company READYgg, which develops a blockchain platform for games.
TLDR: Shawn Layden discusses the high costs of game development, the need to expand the console player base, and the shift towards live service and free-to-play models in the gaming industry.
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