Former PlayStation president Shawn Layden has stated consoles have ‘began to plateau’, as he provides a compelling reply to how large finances video games ought to change.
Between rising growth prices and stagnating console gross sales, the way forward for the video games console enterprise has turn out to be a serious speaking level over the course of this yr.
These issues grasp over Microsoft and Sony specifically as, in contrast to Nintendo, they’ve largely relied on jumps in technical energy to promote every console era. As these jumps turn out to be more and more small, nevertheless, there’s an enormous query as to what the subsequent Xbox and PlayStation can supply, to make themselves interesting to odd folks.
This subject is likely one of the key speaking factors in a brand new interview with Shawn Layden, the previous president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment who has been fairly vocal just lately in regards to the video games business at massive.
When requested by Eurogamer if he believes consoles can nonetheless exist within the long-term, Layden says Xbox and PlayStation ‘have to begin interrogating what the aim is of a proprietary console, and whether or not that may proceed to be true’.
After going by way of the variations between early PlayStation consoles, Layden stated: ‘Then to PlayStation 5, which is a improbable piece of equipment, however the precise distinction in efficiency… we’re attending to the realm, frankly, the place solely canines can hear the distinction now.
‘You’re not going to see one other PlayStation 1 to PlayStation 2 bounce in efficiency – we now have kind of maxed on the market. If we’re speaking about teraflops and ray-tracing, we’re already off the sheet that most individuals start to know.’
Asked if he thinks consoles will ever see one other large leap in energy once more, he replied: ‘I don’t assume so. I imply, what would that leap appear like? It could be perfectly-realised human actors in a recreation that you simply utterly management. That may occur someday. I don’t assume it’s going to occur in my lifetime.
‘We’re at some extent now the place the innovation curve on the {hardware} is beginning to plateau, or high out. At the identical time, the commoditisation of the silicon signifies that whenever you open up an Xbox or PlayStation, it’s actually just about the identical chipset. It’s all constructed by AMD. Each firm has their very own OS and proprietary secret sauce, however in essence [it’s the same]. I feel we’re just about near last spec for what a console could possibly be.’
Elsewhere within the interview, Layden reiterated previous feedback the place he referred to as for AAA video games to be shorter, to fight pricey growth cycles.
‘It’s like we’re on the finish of the 18th century, and we’re realising that constructing cathedrals is de facto costly,’ Layden stated. ‘Can we proceed to construct these huge edifices to God for this unbelievable quantity of labour and time? Or ought to we simply construct 4 partitions and a roof, and that’s a church, proper? I’m afraid we’ve constructed AAA gaming right into a form of cathedral enterprise, and it simply can’t develop any additional. In reality, it’s in all probability grown too far already.’
He added: ‘I want to see a world the place you will get again to 18 to 23 hours of gameplay, however with gameplay so compelling you don’t wish to put the controller down. I need the whole recreation to be like that second in Resident Evil the place the freaking canines come by way of the window and also you drop the controller out of worry. I need extra of these sorts of recreation moments, if we are able to deliver down the dimensions and scope.’
Layden has been repeatedly on level over the previous yr, calling for extra AAA experiences past Call Of Duty and Fortnite, and describing the demise of AA video games as a ‘risk to the ecosystem’.
As for the way forward for PlayStation, current rumours recommend the inevitable PlayStation 6 will use AMD’s subsequent gen UDNA structure, which could include a brand new Sony handheld.
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, go away a remark beneath, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our publication.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features extra simply, with out the necessity to ship an e mail, simply use our Submit Stuff web page right here.
For extra tales like this, examine our Gaming web page.
MORE: Sony simply modified the PS5 start-up display to look and sound like a PS1
MORE: PlayStation begins thirtieth anniversary sale with over 3,000 PS4 and PS5 reductions
MORE: Forza Horizon 5 coming to PS5 claims insider as Forza 6 rumours start
