“It’s a death sentence": former PlayStation boss warns about the obsession with AAA and million-dollar productions in the industry

Shawn Layden, former PlayStation executive, has spoken out against the current industry model on several occasions. Specifically, he believes that big productions and AAA games that cost millions of dollars are not the right path, as he thinks they will lead to a major crisis.

During Gamescom Asia, the executive once again addressed the issue, making it clear that his opinion has not changed. He stated that the costs of AAA games keep increasing at the expense of creativity, which he considers to be in a constant state of collapse.

He also claimed that this trend is causing AA games to gradually disappear in favor of big productions. In his view, this is a kind of "death sentence" for the industry.

Shawn Layden once again criticizes the current industry

Shawn Layden once again warned that the costs of AAA games are skyrocketing. He believes that the obsession with these types of productions puts the entire industry at risk, as studios try to imitate successful titles without thinking about creativity or contributions to the medium.

"The entry costs for making a AAA game is in triple-digit millions now. I think naturally, risk tolerance drops. And you're [looking at sequels], you're looking at copycats, because the finance guys who draw the line say 'Well, if Fortnite made this much money in this amount of time, my Fortnite knockoff can make this in that amount of time'. We're seeing a collapse of creativity in games today," the executive stated.

From his perspective, studios and their executives need to think about creativity and not focus solely on how to monetize a game. He also believes that this trend puts AA productions at risk, which add value to the industry and the video game market. He thinks it's important to have low-budget productions that stand out because they are "creative and unusual" games.

"Because if we're just going to rely on the blockbusters to get us through, I think that's a death sentence. In the gaming business, you have Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, indie stuff. But then that middle piece, that middle layer that used to be where Interplay, Gremlin, Ocean, THQ, all those companies, made their money...

That middle piece is gone," Layden said. "f you [can become] AAA, you survive, or if you do something interesting in the indie space, you could. But AA is gone. I think that's a threat to the ecosystem if you will," Layden concluded.