Ex-PlayStation boss predicts Sony's PS5 games will cost $200m to make
The former boss of PlayStation has predicted PlayStation 5 games will cost $200m to make.
Shawn Layden, who held various executive roles at PlayStation before leaving in October 2019, told Bloomberg the cost of game development doubles with every platform.
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Budgets for PlayStation 4 games Layden spearheaded each hit $100m, and, Bloomberg reports, Layden predicts PS5 games will each cost $200m to make and prices will only increase from there.
Big game companies will combat this exponential development cost by employing a “de-risk” strategy, Layden suggested, which in turn causes triple-A publishers to become “incentivised toward sequels”.
Bloomberg points to publishers chasing trends, quoting Layden as saying: “What happens there is you end up with three to four silos of games or game types that continue to exist, and variety is squeezed out.”
Sony is working on a raft of big-budget sequels for PS5 – although most are cross-gen titles that also have a PS4 version. Titles include Guerrilla’s Horizon Forbidden West, Polyphony’s Gran Turismo 7, and the next God of War from Sony Santa Monica.
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Meanwhile, Days Gone developer Bend Studio is working on a new IP, and Uncharted and The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog is working on a standalone multiplayer game, as well as, reportedly, a remake of The Last of Us.
