Avoiding the sites ads and other garbage, I fed the url through the Kagi summarizer ("key moments" mode); here's the output, verbatim:
-
Shawn Layden, former CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, has concerns about rising costs, consolidation in the industry, and game preservation.
-
Consolidation through acquisitions can reduce creativity as studios are absorbed into larger companies and projects.
-
Blockbuster games requiring huge budgets and long development times are risky and could limit creativity.
-
The focus on only a few popular genres may prevent gaining new players who are not interested in those genres.
-
Preservation of older games is important culturally but the industry has no unified effort to make past games widely accessible.
-
Backwards compatibility has improved but many games from platforms like PS3 remain difficult to play on new consoles.
-
Layden worries large acquisitions could reduce the number of creative voices as smaller studios are absorbed.
-
The entry of tech giants like Google, Netflix, Apple and Amazon could disrupt the game industry.
-
Layden believes companies need to take more risks, find broader appeal, and develop more sustainable business models.
-
While some acquisitions save studios, Layden remains concerned about the long-term impact on creativity within the industry.