Former PlayStation boss says $200 million AAA budgets mean publishers greenlight fewer games: "Something that has to be done"

Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida has talked about how ballooning game budgets are limiting the number of games that get made.

In an appearance on the Kit & Krysta channel, the ex-exec who used to be in charge of PlayStation's first-party studios explained how it "felt like going big was safer" during the PS4 generation, which you can see in the company's output during the era. PlayStation notably had less Patapons and Gravity Rushes and way more 'blockbusters' that simply smelled expensive - God of War, Horizon, The Order, etc.

"It may be counterintuitive but, you know, if we spent enough money to make the big game you know the chance of success felt increased because everybody wanted to play bigger games [with] more beautiful graphics and more realistic-looking characters, more gameplay hours," he said.

Yoshida then mentioned how AAA budgets, sometimes exceeding $200 million, meant publishers chose to greenlight a smaller number of games. That's partly because selling one million copies meant a game was a huge hit back in the PS1 era, Yoshida explained, but by the time the PS5 rolled around, selling 10 million copies was seen as "ordinary" for most AAA games.

"I saw some analysis or estimate of one same franchise released during PS4 era and PS5 era generation double the budget, and that has reached... the point that we cannot recoup this investment. So this generation, PS5 generation, I think is the first time that the industry really, truly believes that you know there has to be something that has to be done," he noted.

Ex PlayStation boss thinks Nintendo's cheaper Japan-exclusive Switch 2 is an "amazing business decision," but doesn't think "PlayStation would emulate what they did"