Companies like PlayStation, Xbox It is Embracer Group have acquired multiple studios in recent years, transforming them into support studios and with the theme more current than ever after the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King for the Microsoft, Shawn Laydenformer CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America shared his concerns about this trend in the most recent episode of Lan Parties.
Shawn Layden commented:
My concern with consolidation is that it often affects creativity. For example, taking some kind of small, independent studios and bringing them into a larger conglomerate and essentially time slows down the bigger you are, time slows down. I also get worried when studios get bought out and instead of being allowed a way to create their game, they maybe get absorbed into a bigger company that’s making a bigger game, you know, how many studios are involved in creating big games? success, will blow your mind.
I’m just worried about what this does to the desire for creativity within the studios, and can they keep that kind of independent creativity alive or do they just get absorbed into the greater whole? Time will tell, but it’s a little worrying. When you go from hundreds of voices to dozens of voices, you lose some voices.
