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Formerly head of PlayStation, Shaun Layden is now an advisor at Tencent. As a veteran of the industry, the businessman has had his say on the recent devastating industry-wide layoffs and studio closures that have been plaguing gaming since.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Layden had his piece to say on the current state of the industry.
“That’s the real frustrating thing when you see people say ‘look here’s a small studio that made a great game, it has true promise, it created an entirely new gaming experience, but we don’t have the patience to play this thing out into part two or part three’,” Layden said. Taking aim at his games publisher peers, his sentiment echoes the very sentiment of consumers themselves, who often feels studios producing their favourite games are never given a chance to produce a sequel.
Pieces Interactive was shuttered last week – Embracer’s debt crisis central to this – and this was only after it released its first title under the group. Fine, Alone in the Dark wasn’t perfect, nor was it critically acclaimed by anyone, though did it deserve to see its lineage ended so soon? So many staple franchises launched with an underwhelming first entry; Red Dead Revolver, Persona, Street Fighter, Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed, and plenty, plenty more. You don’t often strike gold on your first strike, so why are the publishers expecting so?
Layden continues. “Even though they didn’t really get wiped out by it, they didn’t have the windfall profits they expected and so they just kill this thing and go for more established AAA IP, sequels, copycats, and things that from a financial perspective you can draw a through line and say if we build this game it likely perform like this in the market. When you bring completely new things that people have not seen before, which may be fantastic and quite often are, the publishing industry doesn’t have patience now to nurture these things, and they feel they need the quick big win. And that’s a terrible place to be in an entertainment and creative industry.”
The former PlayStation boss continues to say that hits like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto are – while obtusely successful – not what the gaming community wants from every title. Publishers are only interested in replicating these hit games, instead of innovating, and that’s why we’re in the state we’re in.
Layden also touches on the closure of Hi-Fi Rush’s studio – Tango Gameworks – which shocked the industry towards the start of the year. “[H]ere’s something else, here’s a rhythm action gaming piece that’s all about music and bright colours and having a good time,” before going on to lament that the publishers are not doing enough to engage consumers in new IPs.
At the core of it all, Layden criticises approaches to post-pandemic over-hiring and growth predictions. 2020 and 2021 were anomalous years. Entertainment was evermore important thanks to the fact that it was all we had, and so game sales boomed. Hit titles appeared out of nowhere, though this level of growth will never, ever be seen again. Again, this is tied back to a patience issue. “They didn’t want to miss the opportunity, and so you bulk up,” he said.
