- Shawn Layden has said that modern games are too long and lack a sense of completion.
- The ex-PlayStation boss thinks many people don’t have the time to complete such games.
- The developer also praised Astro Bot for breaking this trend.
As gaming has progressed and improved across several generations, one thing that has seen an exponential increase is the length of titles. Video games at the start of this decade weren’t more than a couple of hours on average, with some reaching the dozen-hour range.
Now, however, it is hard to find a single title that is less than 20 hours long, with titles like Tides of Annihilation and Assassin’s Creed: Shadows both pulling in completion times of 30+ hours. And, if you ask ex-PlayStation boss Shawn Layden, this is one of the worst things about modern gaming.
Why it matters: Making shorter titles richer in content could solve a lot of problems for the gaming industry, like ballooning budgets.
While speaking to Player Driven in a new interview, Shawn Layden criticised the length of modern video games, saying the industry is getting carried away with 100-hour projects, which players frankly don’t have the time for as they grow older.
The ex-PlayStation boss further stated that he would rather spend 20 continuous hours and finish a game rather than go through a 100-hour slog. Layden also showered Astro Bot with praise, saying the platformer set a standard for the industry by making its levels short and rich in content instead of longer and barren.
I don’t need you to spend 100 hours on my game. I want you to put down the controller after 20 hours and have sweaty hands.
In addition, as per the developer, modern games lack the feel of completion that older games had. Nowadays, you don’t want to complete the title as you get tired of playing through 100 hours of content. Hence, that feeling of satisfaction is missing, per Shawn Layden, and can only be brought back by making titles shorter.
The former PlayStation alum does have a point when you consider how many players left Assassin’s Creed: Shadows in the second act, around 15 hours in, not bothering to finish a significant chunk of the 40-hour main story.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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