Selvom at opkøb af individuelle studier altid har været en del af branchen, så ville man let kunne argumentere for, at der er mere fokus på det i dag, og at de største virksomheder køber studier som aldrig før. Dette debatteres stadig på livet løs, men spørger man tidligere PlayStation-chef Shawn Layden, så er det lidt bekymrende.
I et interview med GamesIndustry udtrykker han specifikt betænkelighed ved voksende konsolidering, altså at branchen løbende bliver til bare nogle få giganter, der køber alle de studier der udviser potentiale.
"Consolidation is the enemy of diversity in some ways. It takes a lot of playing pieces off the table as they grow into these larger conglomerates. And again, we end up with this problem with diversity. Music on a revenue basis is probably one fifth of the games space. But their cultural impact is 100x what gaming is. Right now, we are narrowing ourselves down into genres and sequels and certain types of games. Favourites like my own, like Parappa and Vib-Ribbon, those things don't seem to get a chance to come out on stage. That's bad for the industry and for fans. Over time, that leads to a crumbling of the games industry if we just keep talking to the same people and telling the same stories in the same way."
Det er svært umiddelbart lige at veje kvaliteten af hans argument, særligt sammenligningen med musikkens kulturelle påvirkning af samfundet. Hvad synes du om hans udtalelse?