Shawn Layden, the former PlayStation executive, has been sounding the alarm about the infiltration of big technology companies into the gaming industry.
In recent talks at the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit, Layden has been unequivocal about naming the likes of Google, Netflix, Amazon, and Apple as the "barbarians at the gate." These companies are increasingly seeing the billion-dollar revenues generated by gaming and are trying to carve out a slice for themselves.
Layden's concerns don't just stem from a protective sense over his own industry; he points to historical precedents set by non-endemic companies disrupting established industries. Apple virtually upended the entire music industry when it convinced everyone that 99 cents per song was reasonable, shifting the entire monetization model. Similarly, Netflix is still transforming how we engage with films and TV shows, moving the locus of entertainment from movie theaters to our homes. These changes weren't just shifts; they were tectonic alterations that left the original industry models struggling to adapt.
According to Layden, these tech giants want a piece of the gaming pie and are willing to risk industry disruption to get it. But it's not as easy as they might think. Gaming is a complex beast requiring more than just technological prowess, as evidenced by Google's rapid rise and fall with Stadia. Three years after its launch, the cloud gaming service was shut down, providing a cautionary tale that technology alone doesn't guarantee success in this highly competitive industry.