Shawn Layden issues warning about non-endemics breaking into games
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Non-endemic companies such as Google and Amazon are among the biggest threats to the games industry.
That's according to former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden, who shared his thoughts on the future of games during the keynote at last week's GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit in Seattle.
Speaking on stage with GamesIndustry.biz head Christopher Dring, Layden listed his three biggest concerns among the many challenges the industry faces in the coming years.
"First, consolidation can be an enemy of creativity," he said, referring to the large-scale acquisitions and wave of studio closures we've seen in recent years. "I also think rising costs in gaming are an existential threat to all of us. And the entry of non-endemics into the sector – otherwise known as the 'barbarians at the gate.'
"Right now we see all the big players going, 'Oh, gaming? It's bringing in billions of dollars a year? I want a piece of that' And so we have Google, Netflix, Apple and Amazon wanting to get piece and trying to disrupt out industry."
Layden said the industry should take heed of what happened to other entertainment industries. Music, he said by way of example, was irreversibly disrupted when Apple "convinced everyone that 99 cents per song was a good idea." Similarly, he said Netflix has disrupted the movie business – which used to centre around going to cinemas – buy "getting some content, getting some licences, and nailing it to your house."
"I'm hoping gaming will be the first industry to disrupt ourselves, [without] a Google or an Amazon to flip the table"
"I'm hoping gaming will be the first industry where we disrupt ourselves," he continued. "Where it
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