Entertainment news and discussion on TalkFuse.
Former PlayStation boss thinks “we’ve lost a lot of the variety in games,” and we can thank the “rising cost” of new titles for that: “We had so many crazy games on PS1”
Former Sony Interactive Entertainment president Shuhei Yoshida has argued that modern gaming has "lost a lot of the variety" that characterised earlier console generations, attributing the shift largely to the escalating cost of developing new titles. His comments tap into a wider industry conversation about how rising budgets have pushed publishers towards safer, big-budget projects at the expense of the experimental, offbeat releases that once flourished.
Reflecting on the PlayStation's early days, Yoshida noted that the original PS1 era was home to "so many crazy games," a diversity he suggests is harder to sustain now that individual productions demand far greater investment. He frames the growing expense of game-making as a key reason developers and publishers are less willing to take creative risks, resulting in a narrower range of experiences reaching players.
In short
- Ex-PlayStation boss Yoshida says gaming has lost much of its variety.
- He blames the rising cost of making new titles.
- The PS1 era hosted far more experimental, offbeat games.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The escalating budgets for AAA game development have created a genuine risk-aversion crisis in the industry. When a single title can cost $100+ million to produce, publishers naturally gravitate towards proven franchises and established genres where consumer demand is predictable. This economic reality means fewer experimental, niche-appeal games receive greenlit funding from major studios, and whilst indie games now offer alternatives, they lack the resources for certain ambitious visions. The PS1 era demonstrates that significant variety thrived when development costs were substantially lower, allowing publishers to fund projects with narrower profit expectations.
The case against
This argument conflates AAA publishing with gaming as a whole and romanticises an era whose diversity is partly selective memory. The indie game revolution has produced extraordinary variety rivalling or exceeding the PS1 period, yet the PS1 era itself featured plenty of derivative sequels and trend-following; much of its perceived variety reflected lower quality thresholds letting more games reach market. Rising budgets reflect a larger, more sophisticated market, and publishers do take calculated risks—the real issue is changed distribution models rather than cost-driven suppression of creativity. Genuine variety exists today, simply moved to digital storefronts and independent developers rather than physical retail shelves.
Explained simply
Shuhei Yoshida is a former senior executive at Sony Interactive Entertainment, the company behind PlayStation. He has recently argued that modern video games have lost much of the variety and experimentation that characterised earlier console generations.
Yoshida blames rising development costs for this shift. As the expense of making games has grown, publishers have become more cautious, choosing to invest in proven franchises rather than taking chances on unusual or experimental ideas.
The original PlayStation in the 1990s stood out for hosting an unusually wide range of games, from major commercial releases to quirky and unconventional titles. Yoshida suggests that the financial demands of modern game development make achieving such diversity much harder today.