Former PlayStation CEO Sean Layden has frequently discussed game development budgets. He was among the early predictors of a trend where budgets would escalate to levels that could make it unsustainable for studios to operate without significant changes.
Now, in a conversation with the GamesIndustry.biz publication, Leyden returned to this topic and commented on the state of the market.
Unfortunately, my heart is not relieved by the fact that I was right. And it wasn’t some great prediction, I just looked at the gaming trends of the last 25 years, and the numbers only grew. Games don’t get shorter, they get harder and more expensive.
Major blockbusters cost $150-250 million, and that’s a heavy burden on the business model that publishers need to carry. This led to the current situation.
Sean Layden, former head of PlayStation
In response to a question about reducing development costs and overall process timelines, Leyden offered straightforward advice | aim for less realism and a shorter duration.
About Duration
Leyden pointed out that statistics show only 32% of players complete games. He believes developers should consider this, particularly when creating lengthy games that span 100 hours.
The shorter your game, the less you’ll have to spend on it. You’ll get to market faster and won’t tell players that they have to wait another 45 years for your next opus.
Sean Layden, former head of PlayStation
The manager is not convinced that the game’s duration is a crucial factor in persuading a player to make a purchase or to take interest.
Duration was important in the early years of gaming. Back then, it was often bragged about, and people judged games by how many hours of gameplay you paid each dollar for. […] Today, the average age of a gamer is approaching the early 30s. These are people who have money, but not much time for games. Who are not so easy to take and pass Red Dead Redemption 2.
Sean Layden, former head of PlayStation
On the pursuit of photorealism
Leyden is convinced that the majority of games do not require photorealism, which substantially raises the cost of graphics.
I do not believe that we will be able to overcome the uncanny valley effect. Full photorealism will always be a few steps ahead, and instead of chasing it, it’s better to go back to interesting game design. I like anime, and I love stylized characters, because with their images they can always tell a different story.
Sean Layden, former head of PlayStation
The leader emphasized that the advancement of graphics has reached a stage where further improvements are largely imperceptible to the player’s eye, rendering them increasingly insignificant.
People talked about teraflops for a long time, not understanding what it even meant, and threw all these metrics at each other. But we’ve come to a point where we have advanced ray tracing, most platforms are capable of delivering 60 frames per second. We have come to the edge of the universe, where only dogs can hear the difference. Maybe we shouldn’t put so much emphasis on this?
Sean Layden, former head of PlayStation
About automation tools
According to Leiden, developers need to focus on creating tools that will automate processes. In his opinion, games have been created by the same methods for a long time, although their effectiveness continues to decline.
The process of making games is largely the same, and when the games themselves get more complex, we need more assets and so on, we just throw more people into it. Programmers are some of the smartest people in computer science who need to teach machines to do many of the tasks for us.
Sean Layden, former head of PlayStation
Layden cited the creators of No Man’s Sky at Hello Games as a prime example of how fewer than 10 people can develop a large-scale game with the appropriate tools. While artificial intelligence will aid in this process, Layden does not believe AI will begin creating games on behalf of developers.
AI will be an assistive technology. Sure, some consulting firm will tell you that by 2030, 50% of games will be written by AI, but that’s not going to happen. AI can only look in one direction – backwards. It gathers information to make you think you’re looking forward, but you’re not, you’re only seeing a rehashed past. He’s like an impatient intern who can be asked to write nine pages about a topic and will gladly do it, but you’ll have to check everything thoroughly. AI is constantly going off the rails.
Sean Layden, former head of PlayStation
About complex but necessary solutions
Layden believes that developers should be tougher on their creations and not be afraid to “kill” them when it will obviously help move the process forward.
In studios, it’s common to see developers clinging to an idea and have to be interrogated about what they’re trying to do. Speed up the early stages to get to the prototype as quickly as possible, when you can say, “This idea doesn’t work.” People often think that if you sit on something else, it will definitely work, but the rest of the game just “sits” and waits for one single mechanic to finally “mature”. You need to be clear about what you’re doing and why, without stretching deadlines like rubber.
Sean Layden, former head of PlayStation
The manager contends that sports simulators serve as a pertinent example in this scenario. Given that these games are seasonally bound, their developers cannot tolerate any delays.
You can say, “Of course they know what they’re doing. They work with the same 32 teams, the same stadiums, the same players.” Yes, because they have clearly defined their variables and know what they can add to them. However, they, like other developers, have a date when they stop adding new content to the game.
Managers should be tougher with deadlines and say | “Yes, this feature is cool, but it’s too late to add it. If we start to introduce it, it will break everything else.”
If developers can get back to game development in three years, the idea of abandoning features will become more acceptable. Because they’ll be able to say, “Okay, I’ll be back in a couple of years.” In the current development model, if you haven’t implemented an idea now, you may not have the option to go back to it at all.
Sean Layden, former head of PlayStation
In a spring interview, Shawn Layden expressed his hope for the resurgence of AA games and described exclusivity as a vulnerability of contemporary blockbusters.
