The gaming industry is in danger: companies like Google and Amazon are threatening to turn it on its head. At least that’s what former PlayStation boss Shaw Layden says.
What kind of threat is this? Former PlayStation boss Shaw Layden said during the keynote speech at the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit that companies like Google and Amazon are among the biggest threats to the gaming industry.
In his speech, Layden talks about his biggest concerns
Amazon broke into the gaming industry with games like New World.
New World: Rise of the Angry Earth expansion trailer
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Everyone wants a piece of the gaming pie
What problem does Layden see? According to the former PlayStation boss, companies that are not native to the gaming industry are buying into the industry and disrupting it: “Right now the big players are all saying, ‘Oh, gaming? That brings in billions of dollars a year? I want to be a part of that.”
Layden points to other industries that have already gone down this path: Music was irretrievably destroyed when Apple “convinced everyone that 99 cents per song was a good idea.” Netflix, in turn, disrupted the film industry, which had previously focused on the I concentrated on going to the cinema.
However, the ex-boss has hope: “I hope that gaming will be the first industry in which we change. Where neither Google nor Amazon is needed to completely turn the tables. We should be smart enough to see these changes coming and prepare for this eventuality.”
If we do that, it’s something different
Christopher Dring of GamesIndustry.biz pointed out that both the PlayStation and its rival the Xbox were launched by companies that weren’t native to the gaming industry. Layden admitted that, but noted that at least Sony was aware of its limitations.
PlayStation knew we couldn’t do what Sega and Nintendo were doing and [den Großteil der Softare bereitstellen] could. We didn’t know enough to make them. We had to be the third-party platform. […] So yeah, we weren’t endemic, but I think we brought in the entertainment part, which really helped drive the success of the PlayStation.
Layden added that this isn’t the first time outside companies have tried to enter the gaming industry. 25 years ago it was film studios that thought “We have IPs, there is money in gaming, so let’s make games.” How hard can it be?”
As it turned out, it was quite difficult because the studios had “all failed miserably”. 20 years later, the tech giants arrived and thought the same thing with their cloud infrastructure.
The first companies should have realized that it was not enough to have the technology. This is what MeinMMO colleague Jürgen Horn discovered, who had placed €1,000 and all his hopes in Google Stadia.