There’s a malaise around the gaming industry right now that’s difficult to ignore, no matter how positive your personal outlook.
Layoffs, rising prices, and consternation about where exactly the industry’s going have all understandably prompted cynicism among players.
But Sony’s third-party bigwig Christian Svensson is in a unique position: he gets to see where the industry is heading over the next five years. And he thinks the panic is overblown – he says the “industry should be super optimistic about where we’re going in spite of the headwinds”.
Speaking with The Games Business, the executive noted that devs and manufacturers are making “very smart decisions”, it just sometimes takes time for those to surface.
He pointed out that decisions are made three to five years in advance, so right now we’re dealing with a general industry direction that was determined around the time of the pandemic. That course will slowly start to change as we move forward.
He explained:
“I’m in an incredibly privileged position to have amazing visibility into what games will be for the next three, four, five years. I literally cannot explain to you.
Last year was an amazing year for games. This year will be even better. Next year will be better still. The trajectory of content is unbelievably positive. And we as an industry should be super optimistic about where we’re going in spite of the headwinds.”
Svensson concluded that “there are no dire times for the industry ahead as far as I’m concerned”, which is a very strong statement, but it’s hard to argue with someone who has more visibility on this stuff than we do.
Personally, we do have concerns.
How is Sony going to be able to sell the PS6 when there’s such apathy for next-gen from consumers – and general economic conditions suggest it’s not going to be cheap, regardless of the company’s best efforts?
How is the industry going to navigate the increasing encroachment of AI, and what does that mean for employment and the overall importance of human art?
And how are game developers, particularly those in the US, going to get the cost of development down so they can realise creative endeavours without so much risk?
These are all questions we’d personally like to put to Svensson, because we do respect his knowledge and visibility on the situation. He knows more than we ever will.
Still, it’s hard not to feel concerned, isn’t it?
