Gaming industry news has been rife with news of massive layoffs. Most attribute this to the end of the economic bubble created by the lockdown. Combatting the roots of these issues has been a topic that some have proposed solutions to. One such solution is a focus on indie games as opposed to only triple A titles. Shawn Layden, former PlayStation executive, recommends that instead of continuing to pump out extremely time, resource, and manpower-intensive games that are forty or fifty hours long, companies make smaller, shorter games. According to Layden, most players aren’t finishing the games, meaning that all that extra content and work could be better utilized somewhere else.
Currently, the most common price for a triple-A game is $70, after it was raised a few years ago. The high price probably has influenced perceptions of what players will be receiving, hence the expectation of lengthy games. However, shortening games might lead to an expectation for lower prices, which probably wouldn’t solve the problem the industry is currently facing.
Another point Layden noted was that the ways in which further attempts to achieve photorealism are massive time and money wastes for minimal results. While Layden did not provide sources for his claims, it can be noted that indie games tend to adopt art styles that stray away from hyperrealism, possibly looking more cartoonish or styles that might be easier to animate. Games that stray from photorealism in their art styles tend to be associated with cartoons, childish games, or themes for younger audiences. While this is certainly not the totality of these games, compared to photorealistic games they don’t often breach the mature or darker themes.