Former PlayStation Exec: AAA Game Development Cost is Unsustainable

Shawn Layden, former president of SIE Worldwide Studios, who worked for Sony for 25 years, says the cost of creating games is becoming too high and something has to change in the industry. In his opinion, the solution could be to focus on shorter, more condensed games.

Video games are getting bigger and bigger. Shawn Layden believes that the industry is heading into a dead end.

IN A NUTSHELL:

Shawn Layden says that from generation to generation the cost of making AAA games almost doubles, and the price of a single copy remains the same;
According to the former head of SIE Worldwide Studios, this can't go on forever;
Shawn Layden believes that the solution could be to create shorter, more condensed games.

Shawn Layden, the former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, who has been with the Japanese company for 25 years, recently appeared on the Gamelab Live conference (a web event held on June 23-25). During the event, he presented his point of view on today's digital entertainment industry, noting that from generation to generation production costs are doubling - currently creating an AAA game costs an average of 150 million dollars (via gamesindustry.biz), while a few years ago it was 80 million.

"The problem with that model is it's just not sustainable. I don't think that, in the next generation, you can take those numbers and multiply them by two and think that you can grow. I think the industry as a whole needs to sit back and go, 'Alright, what are we building? What's the audience expectation? What is the best way to get our story across, and say what we need to say?'," said Layden.

At the same time, the prices of games have been practically unchanged for years - the top productions are valued at 60 dollars.

"It's been $59.99 since I started in this business, but the cost of games have gone up ten times. If you don't have elasticity on the price-point, but you have huge volatility on the cost line, the model becomes more difficult. I think this generation is going to see those two imperatives collide.

"[AAA development] won't be less expensive than the current generation of game development. 4K, HDR art and creating worlds don't come cheap. All the costs around gaming are labour costs, right? You don't have to build a factory. You don't have to turn sand into glass. It's just creativity and your ability to bring like-minded people together to accomplish something, but it's all based on the people... Those are all the costs associated with it," said the former head of SIE Worldwide Studios.

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is a good example of a game that has grown beyond measure.

What's more, players expect longer and longer games, and not all genres are suitable for such extensive play time, especially given the budget constraints.

"It's hard for every adventure game to shoot for the 50 to 60 hour gameplay milestone, because that's gonna be so much more expensive to achieve. And in the end you may close some interesting creators and their stories out of the market if that's the kind of threshold they have to meet... We have to reevaluate that," argued Shawn Layden.

According to Layden, the cure for the current problems of the gaming industry could be to create shorter games that would not need to be artificially extended.

"So how can we look at that and say: Is there another answer? Instead of spending five years making an 80 hour game, what does three years and a 15 hour game look like? What would be the cost around that? Is that a full-throated experience?

"Personally, as an older gamer... I would welcome a return to the 12 to 15 hour [AAA] game. I would finish more games, first of all, and just like a well edited piece of literature or a movie, looking at the discipline around that could give us tighter, more compelling content. It's something I'd like to see a return to in this business," argued the former head of SIE Worldwide Studios.