Shawn Layden: "AA is gone and that's a threat to the ecosystem going forward"

gamesindustry.biz:

Gamescom Asia opened its doors to industry attendees in Singapore this morning, kickstarting the day with a fireside chat with former Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden.

In a conversation with Raw Fury co-founder and chief publishing officer Gordon Van Dyke, Layden gave his thoughts on the disappearance of AA studios, and why that's a bad thing for the industry going forward.

"[In the past] we spent a lot more time looking at games and not asking 'what's your monetisation scheme', or 'what's your recurrent revenue plan', or 'what's your subscription formula'? We asked the simple question: is it fun? Are we having a good time? If you said yes to those questions, you'd usually get a green light. You didn't worry so much about the end piece, for better or for worse. Of course back then you didn't make a game for millions [of] dollars. So your risk tolerance was fairly high.

"Today, 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 [with] studio consolidation and the high cost of production."

Layden has been vocal in the past about his wish to go back to shorter games, and the need to rethink spiralling costs across the industry. Van Dyke asked the former PlayStation exec whether we can find solace in indies, whether they can be seen as a "beacon of hope" when it comes to thinking about creativity first, and monetisation second, if at all.

"I think you're right," Layden answered. "You know, we've seen the same phenomenon in the film industry, right? We've come across to a place where everything is blockbuster, Marvel Cinematic Universe, or it's Sundance award contender. And then in the centre, that