Console graphics cannot improve and are close to ‘final spec’ says ex-Sony boss

Former PlayStation president Shawn Layden has said consoles person ‘started to plateau’, arsenic helium offers a compelling reply to however large fund games should change.

Between rising improvement costs and stagnating console sales, the aboriginal of the games console concern has go a large talking constituent implicit the people of this year.

These concerns bent implicit Microsoft and Sony successful peculiar as, dissimilar Nintendo, they person mostly relied connected jumps successful method powerfulness to merchantability each console generation. As those jumps go progressively small, however, there’s a large question arsenic to what the adjacent Xbox and PlayStation tin offer, to marque themselves appealing to mean people.

This taxable is 1 of the cardinal talking points successful a caller interrogation with Shawn Layden, the erstwhile president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment who has been pretty vocal recently astir the games manufacture astatine large.

When asked by Eurogamer if helium believes consoles tin inactive beryllium successful the long-term, Layden says Xbox and PlayStation ‘have to commencement interrogating what the intent is of a proprietary console, and whether that tin proceed to beryllium true’.

After going done the differences betwixt aboriginal PlayStation consoles, Layden said: ‘Then to PlayStation 5, which is simply a fantastic portion of kit, but the existent quality successful performance… we’re getting to the realm, frankly, wherever lone dogs tin perceive the quality now.

‘You’re not going to spot different PlayStation 1 to PlayStation 2 leap successful show – we person benignant of maxed retired there. If we’re talking astir teraflops and ray-tracing, we’re already disconnected the expanse that astir radical statesman to understand.’

Asked if helium thinks consoles volition ever spot different large leap successful powerfulness again, helium replied: ‘I don’t deliberation so. I mean, what would that leap look like? It would beryllium perfectly-realised quality actors successful a crippled that you wholly control. That could hap 1 day. I don’t deliberation it’s going to hap successful my lifetime.

‘We’re astatine a constituent present wherever the innovation curve connected the hardware is starting to plateau, oregon apical out. At the aforesaid time, the commoditisation of the silicon means that erstwhile you unfastened up an Xbox oregon PlayStation, it’s truly beauteous overmuch the aforesaid chipset. It’s each built by AMD. Each institution has their ain OS and proprietary concealed sauce, but successful essence [it’s the same]. I deliberation we’re beauteous overmuch adjacent to last spec for what a console could be.’

Elsewhere successful the interview, Layden reiterated past comments wherever helium called for AAA games to beryllium shorter, to combat costly improvement cycles.

‘It’s similar we’re astatine the extremity of the 18th century, and we’re realising that gathering cathedrals is truly expensive,’ Layden said. ‘Can we proceed to physique these monolithic edifices to God for this unthinkable magnitude of labour and time? Or should we conscionable physique 4 walls and a roof, and that’s a church, right? I’m acrophobic we’ve built AAA gaming into a benignant of cathedral business, and it conscionable can’t turn immoderate further. In fact, it’s astir apt grown excessively acold already.’

He added: ‘I would similar to spot a satellite wherever you tin get backmost to 18 to 23 hours of gameplay, but with gameplay truthful compelling you don’t privation to enactment the controller down. I privation the full crippled to beryllium similar that infinitesimal successful Resident Evil wherever the freaking dogs travel done the model and you driblet the controller retired of fear. I privation much of those kinds of crippled moments, if we tin bring down the standard and scope.’

Layden has been repeatedly connected constituent implicit the past year, calling for much AAA experiences beyond Call Of Duty and Fortnite, and describing the decease of AA games arsenic a ‘threat to the ecosystem’.

As for the aboriginal of PlayStation, recent rumours suggest the inevitable PlayStation 6 volition usage AMD’s adjacent gen UDNA architecture, which mightiness travel with a caller Sony handheld.

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