Why the former head of PlayStation didn't even launch Red Dead Redemption 2
Former PlayStation head Shawn Layden gave a sharp assessment of the state of the gaming industry. According to him, in the era of the race for photorealism and hundreds of hours of content, the current model of AAA game production has become unsustainable and threatens a financial crisis.
Layden notes that with each generation of consoles, development budgets effectively double. If games used to cost millions of dollars, today we are talking about hundreds of millions. He compares this approach to "building cathedrals" and argues that the industry is stuck in a trap of gigantomania, where financial risk suppresses innovation, and studios are afraid to invest in projects that do not guarantee a global hit like GTA.
Layden cites Red Dead Redemption 2 as an example of this problem. The former head of PlayStation admitted that he never launched the Rockstar Games game, since, as a pensioner, but a busy person, he does not have time to complete it, which would take about 90 hours. In his opinion, the cult of duration as the main advantage repels older players who have money but no free time.
As an alternative, Layden suggests returning to games lasting 12–15 hours, created in 2–3 years and with budgets of several tens of millions of dollars. This approach would allow releasing projects more often, actively experimenting and reducing the risk of financial failure after one failure.
