Former PlayStation boss warns consoles are close to their peak in power

A former boss of PlayStation has given a small bleak detail into the future of gaming consoles, with the former PlayStation boss saying consoles may have reached their peak when it comes to performance.

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In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Shawn Layden was asked about the current state of the gaming industry, along with what he thinks the future will look like for consoles and how the war between PlayStation and Xbox will continue. According to Layden, to properly evaluate the future, we must look at the past. The jump between the PS1 and PS2 was dramatic in terms of graphics fidelity.

The same goes for the jump between the PS2 and the PS3. However, from PS3 to PS4, the performance increase wasn't as noticeable as previous generations. Layden says we are reaching the end specifications for a console, and we will never see a jump in performance equivalent to the PS1 to the PS2. Additionally, Layden points out that there is very little difference between the hardware in both PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as AMD powers both. Layden suggests this could be the end of the console war between both platforms and provides the example of Betamax vs the VHS format, where Sony eventually caved to the VHS format as the industry standard.

Consoles are never getting a big leap in power again? - "I don't think so. I mean, what would that leap look like? It would be perfectly-realised human actors in a game that you completely control. That could happen one day. I don't think it's going to happen in my lifetime. We're at a point now where the innovation curve on the hardware is starting to plateau, or top out. At the same time, the commoditisation of the silicon means that when you open up an Xbox or PlayStation, it's really pretty much the same chipset. It's all built by AMD. Each company has their own OS and proprietary secret sauce, but in essence [it's the same]. I think we're pretty much close to final spec for what a console could be," explained Layden

Layden believes a similar scenario could unfold in the console market, which could entail the end console being sold by both companies, and gamers would simply be able to choose which operating system they want to use. PlayStation and Xbox would make their money through a subscription-based model where gamers pay for the OS, and they want perhaps a tier of a games package (Game Pass, etc.) to go with it.

"If you look at it from my lens, which is of course the PlayStation lens, the leap from PS1 to PS2 was dramatic. I remember seeing the PS2 demo for Gran Turismo and not believing this could happen in a home console, but it did. The jump from PS2 to PS3 was also remarkable. We got to an HD standard. We got - not all, but a lot of - 60fps gameplay. It had a network capability, nascent though it was. Then PS3 to PS4 was just, like, getting the network thing done right.

Then to PS5, which is a fantastic piece of kit, but the actual difference in performance... we're getting to the realm, frankly, where only dogs can hear the difference now. You're not going to see another PS1 to PS2 jump in performance - we have sort of maxed out there. If we're talking about teraflops and ray-tracing, we're already off the sheet that most people begin to understand," added Layden