He believes that the industry will only improve compared to 2025, a surprising statement given recent trends.

There is much lamentation in the gaming industry due to studio closures and regular layoffs at large and small companies alike, as well as increased game development times and budgets. At the end of March, John and Brenda Romero stated that the industry’s current situation is worse than during the infamous 1980s crash, when revenues in North America plummeted 97% between 1983 and 1985. However, not everyone agrees with them. In the latest episode of The Game Business, Christian Svensson, Vice President of Sony Interactive Entertainment and Head of 2nd/3rd Party Content Ventures & Strategic Initiatives, expressed strong confidence in the industry’s future based on his knowledge of upcoming offerings from various companies:

“Personally, I’m super excited. I’m in an incredibly privileged position to have amazing visibility into the games that will be released over the next three to five years because we’re familiar with our partners’ roadmaps. I literally cannot explain to you how amazing it is. Last year was an amazing year for games. This year will be an even better year. Next year will be even better. The trajectory of content is unbelievably positive, and we should be optimistic about our future, despite the headlines.

What we, as well as other publishers and developers, can’t talk about is that, when you consider a product cycle – two years on the low end and five or six years on the high end – the decisions we’re making now will affect where we’ll be in five or six years. Obviously, the decisions we’re making now take into account our current situation. We’re also anticipating where we’re going to be over the next couple of years. As far as I’m concerned, there are no dire times ahead for the industry. Our partners are making very smart decisions. Very smart decisions are being made by platforms. Be more comfortable than you think you should be,” said Svensson.

That’s a refreshing statement, especially coming from someone in his position. The collapse of the 1980s was largely caused by a lack of demand. Consumers lost confidence in the product after being flooded with poor-quality games. They stopped buying games, and retailers dumped their inventory at a loss. Today’s situation is nothing like that. Demand is as strong as ever, if not stronger, and revenues continue to grow.

The main problem lies in rising development costs and longer development times. This is why so many companies, including Sony, are turning to AI to improve efficiency. As long as great games are released, and Svensson firmly asserts that the coming years will be even better in this regard, players will buy them.

Source: WCCFTech