Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has suggested that the continued push towards more powerful (and more expensive) console hardware is unsustainable, arguing that “fighting for teraflops [is] “There's no place to be… We need to compete on content.”
VGC asked Layden, who served as CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America and president of Worldwide Studios before leaving the company in 2019, if the console industry's current business model was sustainable, given rising development costs. associated with the continuous search for more and more. Powerful hardware.
“We've done these things this way for 30 years,” Layden responded, “every generation those costs went up and we realigned with them. Now we've reached the precipice, where the center can't stand, we can't continue.” do things we've done before.”
Layden said he believed it was time to do a “real hard reset” of the industry's current business model, including a “hard reset of what it is to be a video game. It's not 80 hours, it's not 90 hours, but it's That's a completely different category.”
He added that the effectiveness of seeking out more powerful hardware had “stabilised” and was unlikely to attract the majority of gamers. “We're in what I call the 'only dogs can hear the difference' stage of hardware development,” he continued.
“If you're gaming and sunlight comes through the window onto your TV, you don't see any ray tracing. It has to be super optimal… you have to have an 8K monitor in a dark room to see this stuff… We are fighting for teraflops and that is not the place to compete on content. I think we have reached the ceiling.
Layden's comments come ahead of Sony's new PlayStation 5 Pro console, which launches on November 7 and is primarily marketed with the promise of improved performance and visual fidelity for compatible PS4 and PS5 games. However, the machine's £700 price tag hasn't been particularly well received, raising the question of who exactly it is for.