Are Video Games Too Long?

Matt, Brendan, Marie and Chris are on hand to discuss the biggest games industry topics of the week.

The most prominent subject has been the latest wave of allegations concerning abuse, bullying and harassment that have emerged across the industry. As the podcast is not the best forum for such a discussion, we instead direct you to our detailed coverage on the site:

• Industry's abuse problem brought into focus by latest wave of allegations
• Abuse in the industry isn't down to a few "bad apples" | Opinion
• Ubisoft and Insomniac face allegations over mistreatment of women
• Twitch will issue permanent suspensions to abusers on its platform
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla creative director leaves project
• Ubisoft reportedly places executives on leave amid abuse investigation

This episode focuses primarily on the subject of game length, following comments from former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden, who said he would "welcome the return of the 12 to 15 hour game."

This has reignited the ongoing debate about whether video games are too long, particularly in the AAA space. The team offers their thoughts on whether the biggest games are too big, and whether Layden is correct in calling this model "unsustainable."

We also discuss recent comments from Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who said the cellphone-style payment program All Access will be "critical" to selling Xbox Series X.

As always, you can get more news, insight and analysis into the world behind video games at www.gamesindustry.biz.

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