During a Gamescom Asia panel, former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden spoke in regards to the current state of the gaming industry and the way the disappearance of AA studios had contributed to a “collapse of creativity” in modern games. Layden explained how the rise in development costs had led to studios placing a stronger emphasis on post-launch monetization plans and following trends to stay risk-adverse.
“You didn’t worry a lot in regards to the end piece, for higher or for worse. In fact back then you definitely didn’t make a game for tens of millions [of] dollars. So your risk tolerance was fairly high, Layden said (via GamesIndustry.Biz). “Today, the entry costs for making a AAA game is in triple-digit tens of millions now. I believe, naturally, risk tolerance drops. And also you’re [looking] at sequels, you are looking at copycats, since the finance guys who draw the road say, ‘Well, if Fortnite made this much money on this period of time, my Fortnite knockoff could make this in that period of time.’ We’re seeing a collapse of creativity in games today [with] studio consolidation and the high cost of production.”