Current Tencent exec Shawn Layden says console arms race has plateaued

ArtHands

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
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Former PlayStation exec says console arms race has plateaued | VGC

“That race is nearly over, and you know who won? AMD”…
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Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has said he believes that the games console power arms race has plateaued, and that a majority of consumers are not interested in marginally more powerful machines.

Layden, who during a 30-year career at Sony served as CEO of SIE America and chairman of Worldwide Studios, was asked by VGC at Gamescom Asia if the pursuit of incrementally more powerful consoles can continue sustainably in the future, considering increasing development costs.


"We've done these things this way for 30 years, every generation those costs went up and we realigned with it," he replied. "We've reached the precipice now, where the center can't hold, we cannot continue to do things that we have done before."

Layden added that he believes that in order for the console market to remain healthy, they must also appeal to a broad audience and consumers who weren't previously players.

"It's time for a real hard reset on the business model, a hard reset on what it is to be a video game," he said. "It's not 80 hours, it's not 90 hours, but if it is that's a whole different category."


When asked about future console hardware, Layden said he believed that a power boost on its own would not appeal to the majority of players.

"It has plateaued. We're at the stage of hardware development that I call 'only dogs can hear the difference'," he said.

"If you're playing your game and sunlight is coming through your window onto your TV, you're not seeing any ray tracing. It has to be super optimal… you have to have an 8K monitor in a dark room to see these things.


"We're fighting over teraflops and that's no place to be. We need to compete on content. Jacking up the specs of the box, I think we've reached the ceiling."

Sony will introduce its PlayStation 5 Pro next month. Sporting a larger GPU, advanced ray tracing, and AI-driven upscaling for new and existing titles, the mid-generation upgrade will cost $700 / £700 / €800.

While a special 30th-anniversary edition of the machine sold out instantly, the console itself is currently readily available at most retailers at the time of writing.


Layden concluded: "That race is nearly over, and you know who won? AMD."
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Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has said he believes that the games console power arms race has plateaued, and that a majority of consumers are not interested in marginally more powerful machines.
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Also

According to Cerny, 75% of PS5 players choose to optimize frame rates in performance mode instead of shooting for the sharpest image
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I wonder what would be his position if Mario Kart 8 Deluxe run at 30 fps and people going crazy for the next NS.

People don't want powerful machines, but do want all games running at 60 fps. So, figures.
 
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The mass market only cares about games. Really always have. So that's not something new. But yes since the ps3 era there hasn't been any major hardware leaps that really spawn new and creative ideas. Like no big game dev has even used RT in any significant way other than eye candy.
 
Remember this is the guy that replaced Jack Tretton for a short period of time and... that's it.
 
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StueyDuck said:
Either laydens nda is up or he's salty
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Agreed, something is up, he's making less and less sense each time he talks.

Actually, I've got it, they are going to come out with a streaming service aren't they? So you don't need power, you don't need perfect visuals etc. (it's the only thing I can think of as a reason behind his views)
 
The push for better graphics is causing these long development cycles and at the end the user will not even notice the difference
 
When asked about future console hardware, Layden said he believed that a power boost on its own would not appeal to the majority of players.

"It has plateaued. We're at the stage of hardware development that I call 'only dogs can hear the difference'," he said.


This guy really thinks hardware has hit the ceiling with consoles?

PC gamers....

Mad Season 2 GIF by Rick and Morty
 
And that's why Nintendo has it locked for a while. Unless they do something really stupid, which is definitely within reach.

If Nintendo fails we're gonna have trouble.
 
he is right, but I think next gen will be a small bump again, as next gen will be the raytracing generation.

that will be the generation where raytracing becomes the norm, so both Microsoft and Sony will need to make sure that their consoles can support high end raytracing.
 
I think he's absolutely spot on. No one is going to buy a theoretical $800 or $900 PS6.

You literally couldn't tell the difference during the PS5 Pro announcement video that showed games side-by-side.

As it is by far my most-played console this gen is the Switch and no one seems to care how "bad" the graphics are in BotW.

Times have changed, graphics are amazing now, especially on PS5/ Series X, like where else is there to go.
 
"If you're playing your game and sunlight is coming through your window onto your TV, you're not seeing any ray tracing. It has to be super optimal… you have to have an 8K monitor in a dark room to see these things."

Wtf lol
 
ArtHands said:
www.videogameschronicle.com

Former PlayStation exec says console arms race has plateaued | VGC

“That race is nearly over, and you know who won? AMD”…
www.videogameschronicle.com www.videogameschronicle.com
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The problem is........I think he's 100% wrong when it comes to the "POWER" argument. If a console can't run a game at a "preceived" 4K with full path raytracing at 60 fps, then we haven't reach the end yet. Once we reach that point, the next step would be to dedicate more power to the CPU to enhance physics in these game engines.
 
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Jinxed said:
"If you're playing your game and sunlight is coming through your window onto your TV, you're not seeing any ray tracing. It has to be super optimal… you have to have an 8K monitor in a dark room to see these things."

Wtf lol
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I can see he was short lived and bitter. Oh, and that hilarious artsy Hollyweird E3 he was responsible for.
 
kevboard said:
he is right, but I think next gen will be a small bump again, as next gen will be the raytracing generation.

that will be the generation where raytracing becomes the norm, so both Microsoft and Sony will need to make sure that their consoles can support high end raytracing.
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Do you think they'll be capable of path tracing?

I'd like ray tracing to be standard just so that developers don't have to waste their time pissing about with baked lighting.
 
kevboard said:
he is right, but I think next gen will be a small bump again, as next gen will be the raytracing generation.

that will be the generation where raytracing becomes the norm, so both Microsoft and Sony will need to make sure that their consoles can support high end raytracing.
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At 4K (native or AI scaled) and at 60 fps.
 
RoboFu said:
The mass market only cares about games. Really always have. So that's not something new. But yes since the ps3 era there hasn't been any major hardware leaps that really spawn new and creative ideas. Like no big game dev has even used RT in any significant way other than eye candy.
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psvr-2-sales-flop-reports-might-be-exaggerated-v0-_Du8EPIfQWLORhlDUwWfod18ayxPVr4BmTQK-NsdGCM.jpg







And




Virtual Reality Vr GIF
 
Was reminiscing about the Ps4 and it's presentation conference back in 2013, remember being blown away by Shadowfall and Infamous Second Son, not a single game this gen has done that although Demon's souls came close, I guess those days are over.
 
mckmas8808 said:
The problem is........I think he's 100% wrong when it comes to the "POWER" argument. If a console can't run a game at a "preceived" 4K with full path raytracing at 60 fps, then we haven't reach the end yet. Once we reach that point, the next step would be to dedicate more power to the CPU to enhance physics in these game engines.
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Does the market care about reaching "the end" though, or are they more than happy with PS4 graphics?
 
The new race will be how can consoles help shorten dev times and keep dev times now. Games with roughly the same tech as today but produced faster and cheaper would be pretty cool.
 
We can talk about a "ceiling" again once every game is fully pathtraced with more than just a few bounces at resolutions that don't look like vaseline and a decent framerate so maybe during the PS7 era.....
 
I think more and more we're starting to see diminishing returns in a few areas but consoles haven't plateaued. Especially when this generation is still having gamers choose between fidelity and performance in most games. When we can consistently get "fidelity mode" visuals flowing at "performance mode" 60 FPS minimum at mass market prices and we finally put "cinematic" gameplay behind us then maybe consoles will be at that point.
 
He's obviously correct.

What's crazy is that so many disagree with him.

The 3DS smoked the PSP. The Wii smoked the PS3 and XB360. Roblox smokes Resident Evil.

The market has spoken.
 
James Sawyer Ford said:
Why does this guy keep talking, he was the worst PlayStation CEO in their history
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Once again, he was never a PlayStation CEO, and neither were Jack Tretton or Kazuo Hirai from 2003 to 2006 for that matter.
TGO said:
Remember this is the guy that replaced Jack Tretton for a short period of time and... that's it.
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Yet he was also given the role of chairman of SIE WWS from 2016 to 2019.
Shawn Layden did a perfectly fine job running SIE America, he was just pushed out of his role as president of the branch in April 2018, just like Jim Ryan (president of SIE Europe at the time) was, because Tsuyoshi Kodera (the actual CEO of SIE back then) started to oversee each global operation; Japan/Asia, the Americas and (kinda) EMEAI/Australia by his own.
 
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As a gamer and consumer, I agree with Layden. But I've been saying it for years. The power issue is not an issue for actual gamers. Diminishing returns isn't a new concept. Sadly, videophiles have a strong voice. But I don't want or need Ray Tracing in my console games. Devs aren't hitting locked 60fps across the board as it is. I'm not paying higher console prices for the locked 60fps. It defeats the point of consoles: convenience at cost. The games look amazing as it is. Make fun video games without forced agenda and politics and preaching and monetized corpo tactics. Astro Bot, Black Myth: Wukong, and Space Marine 2 all hit at once and showed the roots and heritage of fun video games. Sadly, vapid corpos are tone deaf and the entire video game industry has been monetized into the gutter and it's not going to change just yet. Hopefully it will soon.
 
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