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The Latest Breaking News from Shawn Layden

Former PlayStation Boss Calls Out The Video Game Industry’s Biggest Mistake

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says live-service "isn't really a game" as yet another PS5 exclusive multiplayer title shuts down.

Inverse

Former Sony boss says the industry's obsession with the 'mirage' of live service games is futile: 'The highway is littered with people wanting to take on Fortnite'

"For most, it doesn't happen."

PC Gamer

Ex-PlayStation boss says the games industry is "littered" with Fortnite clones and "people trying to do Overwatch with different skins," but keep dreaming if you're just trying to get "big sacks of money"

"For most it doesn't happen"

GamesRadar

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"A live-service game to me isn't really a game," former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says: "I need a story, I need a character, and I need a world"

A live-service game is more of a "repetitive action engagement device"

GamesRadar

Team Ico pitched Shadow of the Colossus to Sony with placeholder music from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: "Later on, we found out that was actually the theme music"

"We probably violated some usage rights"

GamesRadar

As Microsoft gets set to launch the Xbox ROG Ally, former PlayStation boss says one of the biggest mistakes they made with the PS Vita was trying to bring the console experience to handheld

"Don't try to make that big thing fit in that space"

GamesRadar

Former PlayStation boss says "no one is in touch with their fan base more than Nintendo" and even Sony "was never this in touch" with what players wanted

Shawn Layden wouldn't change much atop the Switch 2 maker

GamesRadar

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Former PlayStation boss says he greenlit Ratchet and Clank on PS4 despite Sony saying "no one wants to play that old game"

Around 80% of PS4 gamers weren't familiar with the brand "so for them, its a new game"

GamesRadar

Ex-Sony boss would consider bringing back PlayStation All-Stars as it's "important" for the brand, even if it didn't live up to Nintendo's Super Smash Bros

The fighting game crossover didn't reach the same heights as Nintendo's

GamesRadar

Former PlayStation boss says "the impact of AI on gaming" is basically the same "as the impact of Excel on certified public accountants" as "you still had to have enough knowledge"

Shawn Layden thinks there's a lot of hyperbole going around

GamesRadar

Ex PlayStation boss says "we've plateaued" on gaming tech, so hardware companies could at the very least make it all "cheaper and simpler"

Shawn Layden doesn't think incremental upgrades are the way forward

GamesRadar

Ex PlayStation boss believes developers are tired of "doing the same thing for so long" and welcomes a new era of "AA gaming, with a wide variety of content and games" like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Shawn Layden is over it!

GamesRadar

Former PlayStation boss is convinced more console generations will come, but doesn't know if Microsoft will be part of them: "Watching what Xbox has been doing recently, I do get Dreamcast flashbacks"

24 years after the Dreamcast's demise, Shawn Layden says Xbox is giving him flashbacks to Sega's exit from the console business

GamesRadar

Subscription services like Xbox Game Pass turn developers into 'wage slaves', says former PlayStation boss

Not only is its profitability uncertain, but it's bad for creativity, says Shawn Layden.

PC Gamer

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GamesRadar

Former PlayStation boss says Xbox Game Pass developers are "not creating value" and subscription models are a "danger"

Shawn Layden has some heated words for Microsoft's subscription

GamesRadar

Death Stranding 2 technical director says that the jump from PS4 to PS5 "isn't so great," it's just "more efficient"

"It’s more a case that on PS5 there are more efficient ways of arriving at similar goals"

GamesRadar

Former PlayStation boss says the platform wars are effectively over since "only the dog can hear" the difference between consoles now

PS5 and Xbox Series X are "very similar," Shawn Layden says

GamesRadar

Former Sony exec says Nintendo can charge $80 for Switch 2 games because of its exclusives: "If it's the only place you can play Mario, then you get your wallet out"

"And Donkey Kong and Zelda"

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GamesRadar

PlayStation games like The Last of Us are dominating the silver screen, but former Sony boss Shawn Layden says "an entire generation had to retire" before Hollywood took him seriously

Layden called estahblishing PlayStation Productions "one of the greatest things" he did in his career

GamesRadar

Former PlayStation boss says the Nintendo Switch 2 will determine if the OG Switch can ever claim PS2's best-selling console of all time title

The Nintendo Switch only needs to sell around 10 million more units

GamesRadar

Former PlayStation boss "deathly concerned" about ballooning budgets of AAA games, questions how many live-service "forever games" like GTA Online and Fortnite fans really have time for

Shawn Layden thinks these rapidly growing AAA budgets pose an "existential threat to gaming"

GamesRadar

Xbox bringing its exclusives to PS5 has a precedent set by Sega, but "it makes the conversation harder to create the FOMO," says former PlayStation boss

But with development costs so high, who can blame Microsoft for wanting more eyes on its games?

TechRadar

Ex-PlayStation boss says hardware innovation 'is starting to plateau' and that 'you're not going to see another PS1 to PS2 jump in performance'

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says there won't be another major jump in hardware innovation.

GamesRadar

Former PlayStation boss says "You're not going to see another PS1 to PS2 jump in performance," and believes we're nearing "a point where the console becomes irrelevant"

The upgrades are far more incremental these days

GamesRadar

Former PlayStation boss says exploding AAA budgets squeeze out creativity as the "finance guys" hunt for their own GTA and find a "lot of copycats, a lot of sequels"

"'Give me GTA 7, because I know how to plot that course.'"

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