Shawn Laydenformer head of Sony Worldwide Studios and CEO of PlayStation USAhas never made a secret of his critical vision on the development model of current triple-A games and has reiterated the concept again recently, reporting in an interview published by Games Beat that theexclusivity represents a weak point for the blockbuster games current, the production of which has enormous costs.
Layden has been reiterating the issue ofunsustainability of the current gaming industry regarding the production costs of triple-A games, proposing alternative models or even recommending a certain downsizing regarding at least the quantity of content and the duration of such games, to compensate for the increasing costs.
In the interview in question he touched on another closely related topic: the fact that exclusive status can damage developers economically, neutering potential sales in the face of costs that continue to levitate.
If a game costs more than 200 million, exclusivity is not worth it
“When i costs of a game exceed 200 million dollars, exclusivity becomes an Achilles' heel,” Layden explained. “It reduces the potential market, particularly when you're in a world of live service or free-to-play games. Another platform is just a way to widen the funnel, bring in more people.”
One of the examples given is obviously Helldivers 2, which demonstrated, according to Layden, that “coming out on PC at the same time” achieved this result immediately. This, however, concerns multiplayer, which follows a slightly different logic.
However, even i single player they could work around the problem the same way: “If you're spending $250 million, you want to be able to sell to as many people as possible, even if it's just 10% more,” Layden explained. According to the former head of PlayStation USA, the total quantity of consoles always remains limited, and greater openness benefits everyone.
In essence, Layden seems to approve of Microsoft's new strategy of opening part of its exclusives to competing consoles, as well as having done so with the PC for years now, but it is a particular situation considering that he is the ex-head of the division PlayStation USA from the PS4 era.
#Exclusivity #weak #point #blockbuster #games #exhead #PlayStation #USA
