Former Sony executive Shawn Layden is turning heads with a bold idea for the future of console gaming. In a recent interview on the Pause for Thought podcast, Layden argued that the console market has hit a sales ceiling and that breaking through it will require a shared gaming format supported by all major platform holders — Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.
The main reasoning behind Layden’s argument is the stagnating hardware sales. According to him, the number of consoles sold per generation has hovered around 250 million units for a decade. The only exception is the Wii era, where motion controls intrigued non-gamers as well. But apart from that, the number has remained close to 250 million units. Layden believes this “containment field” is holding back growth in the industry.
Why Layden Thinks A Shared Format Could Help
One of the obvious problems with a shared platform is exclusives. Exclusives are the core identity of the platform, and they drive sales. PlayStation has Uncharted, and Nintendo has Mario, and mixing them isn’t a good idea.
Layden made it clear that exclusives still matter, saying,
“I don’t think every game has to be console exclusive… but there is a huge value to the brand of having strong exclusives.”
In his words, games like Mario or Uncharted “make the platform sing,” and losing that identity would be a mistake. At the same time, he pointed out the downside of fully split ecosystems.
“When you do code across multiple platforms, you do have to code to the lowest common denominator.”
So, while exclusives thrive on their platform because they are designed with the limitations of that platform in mind, the cross-platform games suffer.
Where Layden sees the real issue is scale. He noted that console generations tend to top out around 250 million units sold, with the Wii era being the rare exception.
“We need to crack that cap, that barrier,” Layden said, adding that the industry is “kind of trapped in this containment field.”
To explain his reasoning, Layden talked about the past format war, like VHS vs Betamax. He said
“VHS licensed its format across many different manufacturers.”
He pointed to CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray as examples where companies competed on hardware features while sharing a common standard.
Layden believes gaming could follow a similar path one day, possibly built around a shared software foundation. That shift, he argues, could also help reduce ballooning budgets and development times.
“We need to get games back into a two-to-three-year cycle,”
He said, adding that not everyone has time for 80-hour games anymore.
Whether his idea ever becomes reality is another question, but Layden’s comments have clearly reopened a conversation about how console gaming grows next.
