Shawn Layden: ‘Two-point plays are dead’

Shawn Laydenthe former head of US PlayStation and current advisor to Tencent and other companies, spoke at Gamescom Asia along with Gordon Van Dyke, co-founder of Raw Fury. Among other things, he addressed the issue of AA games and research, which, in his opinion, essentially do not exist today. Transcript provided by GamesIndustry Magazine.

“The gaming industry has Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and then indie games. But the middle management, the middle class, where Interplay, Gremlin, Ocean, THQ, all these companies made money… It’s gone. When you [dokážete stát] AAA company, so you will survive if you do something interesting in the indie sphere, which means you can do it too. But there are no more AA games,” Layden describes his take on scissors in game development.

Relying solely on blockbusters is a death sentence.

Double score research should, according to Leiden, play the role of daredevils and pioneers. But with increasing budgets and years of development, games that would previously have received the AA designation become de facto triple A titles aimed primarily at financial return. “If you pitch me an AA game and the first two pages describe monetization and revenue or a subscription system, then you’re done. The first page should say, “This game needs to be made, and here’s why.” I want to see passion,” he continues.

With more accessible technology and an overall rise in the level of gaming, they could take on that role, Layden said. double A production by independent teams. “I think so [absence AA her] poses a threat to the ecosystem. So I’m looking for indie stuff. (…) If only we could get a little more interest, enthusiasm and awareness for these low-budget, but super-creative and super-unusual games. I’d like to see more of them. Because if we’re going to rely on blockbusters to save us, I think that’s a death sentence.”