PlayStation exec Sean Layden believes that the development of consoles has slowed down too much. For most gamers, the difference between PS4 and PS5 is almost imperceptible, so the growth in frames no longer produces a “wow effect.”
In his opinion, manufacturers should not endlessly chase the power, which is not dramatically different (If we take rumors about the next generation). Instead, we need to make consoles more affordable and open the market to a wider range of companies. He suggests standardizing the hardware, as was once done with Blu-ray or CD, so that competition is for games, not hardware.
“My conjecture is that we’re just getting more money from the same people, and we need to get more people, not just more money”, — Leyden says.
According to him, attracting a new audience has slowed down because the entry threshold is too high. The PlayStation exec compared Microsoft’s current position with the fate of Sega at the Dreamcast stage. Back then, Sega realized that they were simply better off being a software developer. Today, Microsoft is at a similar crossroads.
At the same time, Layden believes that the next generation of Xbox is potentially closer to a PC in terms of its structure, i.e run on Windows and support third-party stores. His opinion is supported by the company’s real actions: Xbox announces strategic partnership with AMD and presented “own” portable console with a Ryzen Z2 chip. And in the spring, the company “lit up” the Steam tab in the new Xbox interface.
A similar model was tried in the 1990s with the 3DO console, which was produced by various companies. However, the project failed due to the overpriced price of —$699 (about $1500 by today’s standards). Leyden is convinced that now the industry has a chance to implement such a scheme correctly, as the main consoles are very similar to each other.
And at this point, he drew attention to another problem — changing consumer habits. Younger players are accustomed to free-to-play games like Fortnite, which they spend half of their time on PS or Xbox. In other words, console buyers are usually adults, while younger generations choose smartphones or PCs because they already have them. Of course, young people will not stay in the free-to-play segment forever, but it is a matter of years. Therefore, Sean Layden is confident that if the industry does not make devices cheaper and more accessible, consoles will lose their audience.
Source: Games Industry
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