"'PS5 Exclusive Game Budgets Will be $200 Million,' Predicts Sony Veteran
The former head of Sony Worldwide Studios predicts that budgets for PlayStation 5 exclusives will be in the order of $200 million for the biggest games.
It probably won't be news to anyone that video game budgets are steadily increasing. Despite this, many people may be surprised by the declaration of industry veteran Shawn Layden, who predicts, that the production cost of Sony's big PlayStation 5 exclusives will be around $200 million.
Layden knows what he's talking about, as he was the head of Sony Worldwide Studios until 2019. He explained that the budgets of the biggest PlayStation 4 exclusive titles were each $100 million. He didn't name specific titles, but we do know that he oversaw the production titles like Uncharted 4, Horizon: Zero Dawn, God of War, Days Gone or Marvel's Spider-Man. According to Layden, each new generation of consoles doubles the cost, hence the projected amount of $ 200 million for PS5 games.
What's more, Layden predicts that costs will continue to rise. He explains that such large budgets cause publishers to do what they can to reduce risk. Hence the focus on developing best-selling series - companies rarely have the patience to invest in IPs that don't become instant hits.
This also causes publishers to focus on the most popular genres. Other categories are increasingly ignored, at least when it comes to AAA games.
The reluctance to give less popular brands a chance can be seen in Sony's recent actions. Days Gone sold well, but below the company's expectations, especially since most players bought the title at a reduced price. As a result, plans for a sequel were abandoned and Bend is now developing a new IP.
It seems that another example of this could be Guerrilla Games. Horizon: Zero Dawn proved to be such a big hit that the studio's next project was Horizon: Forbidden West. At the same time, however, Sony seems to have abandoned, at least for now, this developer's older and less popular brand, Killzone. The series' official website was shut down earlier this year.
