With each transition between console generations, various aspects of games – like visual fidelity – haven’t quite made similar jumps in quality like they used to. In many forums, this subject became a point of discussion in the transition from the PS4 and Xbox One generation to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, where many improvements were made under-the-hood, but the graphics seem to the untrained eye hardly better than the previous console generation. Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden believes that technology, in this regard, has hit a plateau.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Layden spoke about how graphical improvements have slowed down through the console generations, and how the few differences we do get tend to feel largely indiscernible. “I think we’ve plateaued on the tech, frankly,” he said, going on to talk about how players can seldom notice the differences between the PS4 and PS5 versions of the same game. “How many of us can really tell the difference between 90 frames per second and 120 frames per second?”
Layden, instead, believes that console makers should take a different approach to their next hardware releases. Rather than focusing on making things even bigger and better, he believes that hardware makers should focus on instead making their consoles more affordable. “Make it cheaper and simpler,” he suggested. “Let’s do that instead. And let’s find a way to have more hardware companies participate.”
In the interview, Layden also expressed his belief that the gaming console industry should take cues from other businesses like Blu-ray discs or cassette tapes where the competition came down to the content offered rather than the hardware format used to deliver the content. Through this, he thinks gaming consoles can penetrate entirely new markets since a large barrier to entry would have been removed.
“Can’t we look at the game console business kind of like Blu-ray, or cassette, or compact disc, or any other medium where the industry decided we’ll compete on content, but let’s standardize on format? And then let’s take that format and license it out to everybody who wants to support it,” he said.
He also believes that the console gaming scene has been stifled by the same companies collaborating with the same hardware makers, and thus throttling quite a bit of innovation that could be achieved if more varied companies could also compete on a similar stage. “My conjecture is that we’re just getting more money from the same people, and we need to get more people, not just more money.”
Layden’s beliefs match up a bit with rumours that indicate that the next generation of Xbox consoles will be closer to a gaming PC in terms of hardware and software than the previous generations have been. The idea of licensing out a set standard to different companies also calls back to older platforms and consoles, like the 3DO and the CD-i, where different companies could make the same console with various form-factors. However, those consoles ultimately didn’t meet the required success, and time will tell whether the next Xbox will succeed or suffer a similar fate.
