If you're a video game developer with dreams of making it rich in the live-service space, former SIE chairman Shawn Layden says those might instead be illusions of grandeur.
It's no secret that certain corners of the game industry have become oversaturated, and although the frighteningly unpredictable downsizings that have been going on might argue otherwise, I don't see that changing any time soon with the expansion of the indie market and, sadly, the proliferation of AI.
One genre in particular that Layden views as being particularly crowded at the current moment is live-service, which he says is a pie in the sky for many developers and companies hoping to make a bundle on their next game and, increasingly, offset production costs with the types of recurring revenue live-service offers with paid updates, battle passes, etc.
"The highway is littered with people wanting to take on Fortnite, with people trying to do Overwatch with different skins," Layden told The Ringer. (It's hard not to note the irony in Sony's Marvel Rivals existing in the context of these comments.)
"If you're trying to go into that space because you have this illusion in your mind of big sacks of money coming every day for the rest of your life, for most it doesn't happen."
Apparently, Layden's distaste for the live-service genre extends beyond its bloat, as he also told The Ringer he doesn't view live-service games as games, preferring to call them "repetitive action engagement device[s]" and saying he prefers games with rich characters, stories, and worlds.
Another studio known for single-player games takes the live service gamble: Heavy Rain dev is making a competitive multiplayer game even as "development of Star Wars: Eclipse continues"
