There's been a lot of "doom talk" in the gaming industry following studio closures, regular layoffs at big and small companies alike, and rising game development times and budgets. In late March, John Romero and Brenda Romero opined that the current state of the industry is even worse than the infamous 80s crash, which saw the revenue collapse by 97% between 1983 and 1985 in North America.
However, not everyone shares their opinion. Speaking on the latest episode of The Game Business, Christian Svensson, VP, Head of 2nd/3rd Party Content Ventures & Strategic Initiatives at Sony Interactive Entertainment, expressed strong confidence in the industry's future, borne out of his knowledge of the various companies' future lineups:
Personally, I'm super excited. I'm in an incredibly privileged position in the industry to have amazing visibility into what games will be for the next three, four, five years, as we're aware of our partners' roadmaps. I literally cannot explain to you, like... Last year was an amazing year for games. This year will be an even better year for games. Next year will be an even better year for games. So, like, the trajectory of content is unbelievably positive, and we as an industry should be super optimistic about where we're going to go in spite of the headlines.
What we or other publishers or developers can't talk about is, when you think about a product cycle - two years at the low end, five, six years at the higher end - the decisions we're making now will affect where we're going to be in five or six years. And obviously, the decisions we're making now take into account where we are at this moment, right? And anticipating where we're going to be over the next couple. So, the industry — there are no dire times for the industry ahead as far as I'm concerned. Very smart decisions are being made by our partners. Very smart decisions are being made by platforms. Be more comfortable than you think you should be.
That's a refreshing statement, especially from someone in Svensson's position. Indeed, the 80s crash was largely caused by a lack of demand: consumers lost trust in the product after being flooded with shovelware, stopped buying games, and retailers dumped inventory at a loss. This is not even remotely the same situation: demand is as strong as ever, if not stronger, and revenue is still increasing.
The main issue lies in the rising development costs and timelines, which is why so many companies (including PlayStation itself) are turning to AI to improve efficiency. But as long as great games are delivered, and Svensson is adamant that the upcoming years will be even better in this regard, gamers will buy them, that's for sure.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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