Shawn Layden assessed the state of the gaming industry in an interview with GamesIndustry magazine, which has manifested itself in mass layoffs and studio closures in recent months and years. According to the former head of the US division Game console and current advisor to the Chinese giant Tencent companies lack the patience and courage to explore original ideas. He also mentions the sudden growth of the industry during the Covid-19 pandemic and its subsequent adaptation to the global situation.
“It’s very frustrating when you see someone say, ‘Look, here’s a small studio that made a great game, it has a lot of potential, it brought a whole new gaming experience, but we don’t have the patience to get it done. the end.” to the second or third phase,” describes.
“Even though the company isn’t going to disrupt it, it’s not going to make the profits that it’s going to make, so it’s just going to shut the whole thing down and start doing established three-star brands, sequels, copycats and everything else where you can set a financial limit and say that if we make this game, it will have some success in the market,” he says, continuing, “where you bring something completely new that people haven’t seen before, and that could be fantastic. And quite often publishers no longer have the patience to hone these things and strive for quick and big success. And it’s terrible for the entertainment industry and the creative industry.”
If people have already said they’re not interested in that kind of experience, making more of those kinds of games won’t attract them. This seems pretty clear to me.
According to Layden, it is news and original ideas that should help the industry. Too many people have already dismissed brands like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto as uninteresting, he said. Like other series, they started out as surprise hits. “If people have already said they’re not interested in that kind of experience, they won’t be interested in making more games like that. This seems quite clear to me,” he has no doubt.
Shawn Layden is apparently considering one of these original titles. Hi-Fi Rush from a recently closed studio Tango Gameworks: “Okay, you don’t like first-person shooters or RPGs, here’s something different: a rhythm action game that has music, bright colors and good fun. Where is the place for such games? And how do we continue to attract new people to join the world of interactive entertainment?”
They want to find a way to solve this problem in six months in an industry where nothing gets done in six months.
Layden also points out the artificial growth of the gaming industry during the Covid pandemic: “[Společnosti] they didn’t want to miss the opportunity, so they expanded. No one knew how long the pandemic or lockdown would last, so they were obviously trying to account for the possibility that it might last longer than it actually did. But it was a huge risk.”
According to him, companies should invest less and not expect annual growth of around 20%. It should have been clear to them that this wouldn’t last forever. As the pandemic passed, companies began looking for quick solutions. “That’s why patience is important. The industry is losing patience. They want to find a way to solve this problem in six months in an industry where nothing gets done in six months.”
“Some of the smaller studios are saying, ‘Why do we have to make cuts?’ You bought us overnight to give us the ability to do what we can… And we didn’t tell you to spend double digit billions of dollars buying more stuff, causing us to suddenly become a scapegoat because you need to budget “, he adds. Leyden, saying that promises of automation and freedom for purchased studios are never entirely true.
Source :Indian TV
