Former PlayStation boss thinks "we've lost a lot of the variety in games..."

[Deathwing]

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/former-playstation-boss-thinks-weve-lost-a-lot-of-the-variety-in-games-and-we-can-thank-the-rising-cost-of-new-titles-for-that-we-had-so-many-crazy-games-on-ps1/

Not sure if this is allowed like this, sorry in advance.

This guy Shawn Layden was in charge of PS and one who steered the boat away in this direction of safe investments, but it's funny because that's precisely how I feel about PS nowadays. The charm of the PS1 and PS2 is long gone, their experimental and unique games replaced by "yet another over the shoulder third person cinematic game".

The budgets for modern titles are out of this world, so it doesn't surprise me that they want to play it safe. The question is, would people be interested if Sony or any other company kept an experimental studio with a handful of people who could develop titles with PS1 budgets? Would you be happy with last gen or even before type of quality production values? I suppose tools evolved enough to streamline this work.

Thoughts?

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

For me, the whole issue with today's gaming industry is that games are mass-produced and manufactured rather than crafted; they want to play it so safe that they won't set one foot outside the "safe zone", which immediately makes me check out mentally and not care.

Everything is built on THIS ENGINE, based on THESE MECHANICS, rendered with THESE PLUGINS, set to THIS SOUNDTRACK... and what's the point of buying or playing games at that point? All that changes is the name on the box, the number on the sequel, and the year of release. It's like buying yearly sport title releases, but across the whole spectrum.

Oddball games like "Armed & Delirious" and "The Neverhood" were beloved because they were the results of someone's creative vision and it ultimately didn't matter if they made bank (in fact, the latter sunk the studio which made it) and that's where it was at — art is NEVER about playing it safe and, yet, it's all we are doing.

Thank God for indie developers and their punk ways.

 

[Deathwing]

.

Lovely read, I feel that even tho I couldn't write it myself.

Yeah it went from a few nerds in a garage to big companies with pre-defined budgets and sales numbers, last AAA titles which still have a bit of craft in them IMO were probably BG3 and E33. Did you play them? If yes what did you think about it?

 

[PrismRed]

Everything is built on THIS ENGINE, based on THESE MECHANICS, rendered with THESE PLUGINS, set to THIS SOUNDTRACK... and what's the point of buying or playing games at that point? All that changes is the name on the box, the number on the sequel, and the year of release. It's like buying yearly sport title releases, but across the whole spectrum.

This 100%, studios make games with budget and resource at its core instead of the other way around, which is make an idea of a game then throw investment around it.

Games doesn't have to be big or expensive, it has to be FUN. Indies are proof of that.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Lovely read, I feel that even tho I couldn't write it myself.

Yeah it went from a few nerds in a garage to big companies with pre-defined budgets and sales numbers, last AAA titles which still have a bit of craft in them IMO were probably BG3 and E33. Did you play them? If yes what did you think about it?

I haven't played them (my "newest" games were MLB: The Show 2019 and GTA V), but I'll check them out!

 

[BrawlMan]

No shit Shawn. Look, I don't mind most of Sony's recent cinematic games, even though I am only interested in a few, but this has been Sony's problem since the 7th generation. Yes, they still had some creative variety, but they too jumped on the real is brown FPS trend and were obsessed with that too with Killzone and Resistance. Now the games vary in quality, but most people tend to favor Killzone 2 or Resistance 3.

Sony's persistent and nonsensical addiction to live-service I find so much worse. They have not learned a damn thing, and I know next generation, they will have nothing but live-service games on PS6. They're killing themselves and they're too stupid, greedy, delusional, and selfish to realize any of this.

 

[4C374552A1CA2638]

I'm also not surprised they want to play it safe since, in light of the Xbox firings, even putting out successful and/or popular games isn't enough anymore. You don't need moderate success, you need a wildfire 'everyone is talking about it for weeks' kind of seller that makes back its budget in hours... then you're boned come the next game because it has to do even better than the last one.

I did a search to find how much of a game's budget was salary and came across this post on Reddit from two years ago. Key comments from KevinDL gives a breakdown in numbers (though people point out how inaccurate they look) and riley_sc points out why this loss in variety happened (the want to spend more on fewer games).

The indie space has its own problem with discoverability. Earlier in the month, I counted nearly 80 games released on Steam in the span of just one day, and I don't know if that's above/below/exactly average. How do you even get noticed in the deluge? Good example is how the devs of Among Us were looking to do a sequel when the first game suddenly exploded overnight because just the right streamer showed the game.

A second, more recent Reddit comment paints an even bleaker picture (DKLancer's second comment breaking down numbers), or SpookiestSzn's link to SteamDB showing that already, there have been as many games added to Steam so far this year as there were in the entirety of 2022.

Well, that's all sunshine and rainbows, innit.

 

[What's His Face]

In the end, only Nintendo & PC will remain. Make of that what you will.

 

[extermist]

The budgets for modern titles are out of this world, so it doesn't surprise me that they want to play it safe.

The budget for those kind of games is the way it is, because of the devs and companies themselves.

How many people would be happy another simple Crash Bandicoot? The budget for that shouldn't be near 1/4 of a AAA game.
No one's pointing a gun to their heads to use MOCAP or photorealism.

It just falls down to "We want to make this kind of game, and it'll need this much budget. So you as the players need to fund this or we axe the studio.", the ecosystem for these games is the way it is by their design. So I find it ridiculous to use the budget as an excuse, when there can be creative ways around the budget.

If older devs can work their way around hardware limitations then surely buget shouldn't that much of an issue.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

should’ve dropped Gravity Rush 3, then Sony wouldn’t be in this mess

 

[JG509]

should’ve dropped Gravity Rush 3, then Sony wouldn’t be in this mess

First Gravity Rush 2 on PC though (plenty of bloodborne talk but this game is in the same situation)

 

[Spyrone]

There's a reason most of the upcoming games I pay any attention to are indie titles. The few interesting games being published by the big boys are often DOA like Hi-Fi Rush and that makes even less space for anyone else in the room to try and carve out a niche that way. It's fun that even executives are starting to see how they've sucked every ounce of joy out of the hobby they loved and likely got into the industry for.

Fortunately when you get such an overgrown forest as the gaming industry is, it tends to burn down and leave all sorts of nutrients behind for a newer, prettier, healthier forest. Especially now that it's hot enough out that even people like Shawn Laydon can see the smoke rising.

 

[Onicat]

No one's pointing a gun to their heads to use MOCAP or photorealism.

Well, investors are pointing. The curve on the graph should move not only to the right but also upward.

The thing is, video games have long since ceased to be a niche, controversial hobby for geeks. Now it’s a socially acceptable and trendy hobby for "normies". And their preferences are as predictable as can be. The marketing industry exists for a reason :)

About 25 years ago, people in the gamedev industry were already saying that making games for the "core audience" (nerds and geeks) wasn’t profitable. It’s profitable to make games for the "average Joe". He has very little idea of what he likes (or doesn't know at all), which is exactly why it's very easy to make a choice for him.

A similar situation has long been observed in the field of photography. While in the 90s (the film era) everyone knew that if you wanted "interesting" photos, you had to lead an "interesting" life, by the 00-10s the focus had shifted to the need to own the most expensive/high-tech (and with as many megapixels as possible) camera. I don’t know how this affects the "interest" of the resulting photos, but that’s the direction the industry has taken. Because the average Joe camera owner never takes it out of the house, he never goes anywhere, he has no imagination, let alone an interesting life. So, since he therefore doesn’t have any “interesting photos”, you have to sell him something he understands. Nice numbers on the package box, for example. Everyone knows that 3 is greater than 2, for example. So therefore 3 is better right? And that’s why today it’s easier to sell megapixels (= mocap/photorealism) than attractive straight out of camera colors (= gameplay). Every “modern photographer” knows that the more megapixels, the better the camera (and the photos). And good color is some kind of meaningless nonsense so don’t go acting all fancy here, just buy a set of Lightroom presets for 100-999 bucks.

As a result, cameras are becoming even more technologically advanced (and more expensive), but there are still no “interesting” photos in the average Joe photobook. Just as there never were.

 

[BigTony]

The Last of Us is one of the worst things to happen to the game industry it's boring movie game design has infect everything Sony makes

 

[extermist]

The Last of Us is one of the worst things to happen to the game industry it's boring movie game design has infect everything Sony makes

I'd say that sony's push for cinema can be traced back to the first God of War, but goddamn TLoU really pushed the shit out it's ass.
Why yes sony, I do love characters that don't shut the fuck up, moving ladders in emotional ways and time wasting cutscenes that wish they could be an MGM TV drama.
Yes I'd love to have all that plastered into every other game that doesn't need it.
Yes I'd love gameplay being brough to a screeching halt just so the game can spoonfeed me on how deep and emotional the fucking moment is.
Please, push your political agendas and propaganda up my shitter sony, I insist, I have no standards after all.