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.