One former PlayStation CEO has revealed the key reason why he believes that consoles will start to become cheaper in the future.
A worrying trend in the game industry has been the rising costs of hardware and software alike, as we have not only seen consoles reach record-high prices, but the games themselves are also more expensive than ever before.
So much of the discussion surrounding the impending release of Grand Theft Auto 6 has been around its price, as analysts believe its sizeable development costs and unrelenting hype will shatter the $70 price tag standard. For the first time, consoles are also going up in price later in the release cycle.
Shawn Layden, former Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO, has suggested that we could see this trend of increasing prices subside in the coming years, and it could even reach a point where hardware starts to become cheaper.
How could consoles end up being cheaper?
As revealed in an extensive interview with gamesindustry.biz, Shawn Layden believes that technological stagnation will lead to a point where game consoles become cheaper as less advanced hardware is needed to achieve the desired performance result.
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"I think we've plateaued on the tech frankly," Layden argued. "How many of us can really tell the difference between 90 frames per second and 120 frames per second?"
Many would agree that while new games are making improvements, the rate at which graphics are noticeably improving between console generations has dramatically reduced.
The jump between the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 was clearer, and therefore, people have started instead to focus on framerates, with the bar ever-increasing from what was once 60 fps to now an 'industry standard' of 120 fps.
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In Layden's eyes, this isn't a necessary target, and you don't need anything more than 90 fps for most gamers, allowing you to instead focus on accessibility and availability for more people.
"Make it cheaper and simpler. Let's do that instead," he proposes, "And let's find a way to have more hardware companies participate."
How realistic is this prediction?
It's hard to predict how industry trends will shift over time, but seeing how so many players – especially those on the younger end – are shifting in favor of the free-to-play model, it might be something that companies like Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo have to consider.
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Mat Piscatella, senior director at market research company Circana, explains:
"What you're seeing in the play pattern, particularly with younger consumers, is a default to the free-to-play entry point. The data is clear that the console buyer is becoming older and more affluent, and the younger generations are choosing more often to default to mobile and PC because of the ease of entry and because they already have the devices."
Gaming might be forced to adapt to a market that is unwilling to keep up with the ever-increasing prices, and Layden's suggestion of forgoing hardware advancements to achieve lower prices might be the only way to go about it.