Former Sony Head Shawn Layden: Expect More Talk About Unsustainable Budgets This Year

gameranx.com:

Every video game company head has his or her big memes that they are famous for. For Reggie Fils-Aime, it was “my body is Reggie.” For Kaz Hirai, it was hyping up the PSP version of Ridge Racer. And for Shawn Layden, it was saying AAA game development was unsustainable three years ago.

When we reported on Layden’s comments, we somewhat softened his message, by stating that Layden would welcome shorter games, that took less time to make. But reflecting on this now, particularly as a result of the Insomniac ransomware leak, its clear that he was speaking the truth on the hard facts that even gamers didn’t want to hear. (Note: There is an imperative need to discuss information that went public because of the leak, but this does not constitute an endorsement of said leak.)

We reported that Insomniac barely broke even on Sunset Overdrive and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Furthermore, even after accounting for newer sales figures for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, it’s clear that the title was not successful enough to warrant making new Ratchet & Clank games, at least not immediately.

We also reported that in spite of the success of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Sony has plans to fire people at Insomniac. In this case, the issue was very specific; Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 did not make enough money to justify the budget placed on it, and Insomniac would be placed on a tight leash in the future.

It was these leaks that prompted Shawn Layden to respond to a fan on Twitter in regards to the unsustainability of AAA game development with this:

“I reckon we’re going to be hearing A LOT on this topic in 2024.”

But going back to the original interview, where he made those original quotes, one can see that his explanation was quite clear. Rather