You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here
The PlayStation brand is known for its massive, cinematic AAA single-player experiences, although the brand has spent this last generation investing massively into live-service multiplayer games that have either been scrapped, are missing-in-action, or have been killed shortly after launch in the case of the $500 million project Concord.
Ex-PlayStation boss comments on the cost of AAA development
Speaking on a recent episode of the Kit and Krysta Podcast, former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida explained that publishers across the entire games industry are investing in a smaller number of AAA games due to the amount of money they now cost to create.
Yoshida explained that the PS4 era where Sony released titles such as God of War, The Last of Us Part 2, The Order 1866 and Horizon was better for AAA development as it was just before the cost of making huge games skyrocketed. While it “felt like going big was safer” just ten years ago, publishers were willing to invest heavily in this type of game, but now it’s too much of a gamble.
“It may be counter-intuitive 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, more beautiful graphics and more realistic-looking characters, more gameplay hours,” the former PlayStation boss said.
Yoshida explained that the jump from the PS4 to PS5 AAA games has caused budgets to almost “double”, despite the lack of an obvious technical jump for most games. While the addition of ray-tracing is helping to reduce costs for developers, games are still more expensive to make now than they’ve ever been.
“I saw some analysis or estimate of one same franchise released during PS4 era and PS5 era generation double the budget,” Yoshida told the podcast. “And that has reached the point that we cannot recoup this investment.”
The former PlayStation lead explained that the “PS5 generation” has simply become too expensive for the huge slew of AAA game development to continue, potentially resulting in the cancellation of numerous Xbox projects like Everwild, Perfect Dark and a new MMO last week.
“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,” Yoshida said, explaining that PS5 games are simply too expensive to create.
Over the course of the generation, games have become more expensive to make, and more expensive to buy with some releases costing as much as $80 on launch. However, other developers are focusing more on AA experiences with Expedition 33 developer Sandfall Interactive hoping gamers give more $40 or $50 games a chance.
About the Author
