Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden has once again criticized the exorbitant production costs of games. He argues that with costs of $200 million or more, things like platform exclusivity are simply not affordable.
Layden had already commented in January on the exploding development costs in the industry. expressedAfter it was revealed that "Marvel's Spider-Man 2" had a budget of $300 million, this aspect had gotten completely out of control. Layden also indicated at the time that story-driven games with 40+ hours of gameplay were not necessarily required, as they would only drive up costs.
Exclusivity is an Achilles' heel.
In an interview with GamesBeat Layden now elaborates, describing exclusive releases as an "Achilles' heel" when dealing with production costs of $200 million. This would limit the target audience, where every percentage point increase in sales counts.
"When the cost of a game exceeds $200 million, exclusivity is their Achilles' heel. It reduces their addressable market, especially if they operate in the world of live service gaming or free-to-play."
Multiplatform releases, on the other hand, are about improving one's own chances, as "Helldivers 2" recently demonstrated. This simply allows you to reach more people and afford such budgets.
Layden bases this on a simple calculation showing that the console market as a whole is quite limited. Successful generations like the PSone, the PS2, etc., never combined sold more than 250 million units.
Furthermore, Layden believes the industry isn't doing enough to attract non-console gamers to consoles. In his view, this is because the console market focuses on too few big games, which aren't played by a large portion of the population.
"We won't reach them by making more of the same crap we're doing now. If 95% of the world doesn't want to play Call of Duty, Fortnite, and Grand Theft Auto, is the industry just going to make more Call of Duty, Fortnite, and Grand Theft Auto? You're not going to win anyone over that way."
Therefore, it would be important to offer a broader range of games and preferably more variety instead of just third-person games and Gran Turismo.
And games like Sackboy Adventure or Ratchet & Clank are good in terms of variety, but with a starting price of €80, they compete very fiercely with other AAA games that simply offer more for the money.
Simply put, realistic pricing is needed, reflecting the true value of your product. If I take Final Fantasy VII Rebirth as a reference, even though the game isn't complete, then games like Sackboy, Clank, and Horizon Forbidden West should cost at least €10 less. The Gold Saucer games alone, with their minigames, are already AAA titles in their own right.