They say that hindsight is 20/20, and admittedly former Sony Interactive Entertainment president Shuhei Yoshida risks little for speaking out about the actions of the wider games industry after he retired last January. Still, his successful tenure as PlayStaton’s boss still carries some significant clout, so the fact that he had some direct words regarding the state of gaming is noteworthy regardless.

Speaking during Gamescom LATAM, Yoshida zeroed in on the “stupid money” that was injected into the industry during the COVID pandemic and chided corporations that believed the fast cash would last forever, holding up Embracer’s nuclear-level divestiture as a prime example.

“What we’ve been seeing for the last two years is just the adjustment to the misjudged [spending] by so many companies during the COVID days. Many companies and even the analysts believed the crazy growth [during the pandemic] would continue. So they over-invested and over-hired and they started too many projects, but after COVID there were a lot more ways for people to entertain themselves so the growth slowed down.”

That wave of reckless investment, according to Yoshida, has now left the industry to chase the next fast trend, which leads him to suggest to major companies that they invest in a portfolio of titles instead of pinning their hopes on one or two major hits.

“[Y]ou cannot just take one product [or model] and say they’re all wrong. Especially with entertainment products, nobody can predict sales, especially when new IPs are tried,” Yoshida is quoted as saying. “So, what big companies should do is invest in a portfolio of titles—because if they just invest in a small number of titles it’s a huge risk. Even when you invest in existing successful franchises, because people’s tastes will change.”