For a lot of followers, the PlayStation 4 years have been outlined by blockbuster single-player GOTY contenders like God of Conflict and Spider-Man. Then the PS5 arrived in 2020 and Sony turned its consideration to live-service gaming with the hopes of capturing a bit of the rising multiplayer market. Former government Shawn Layden, who abruptly left Sony after greater than 30 years of service proper earlier than the brand new {hardware} launched, just lately instructed that technique pivot was a part of the explanation behind his departure.
“To be trustworthy, you recognize, the corporate was making some strategic choices about the place they wish to take the platform sooner or later with a heavy emphasis in video games as a service, live-service gaming, subscription formulation, recurring income, whatnot, and that was sort of not my wheelhouse,” Layden, who was Chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2014 to 2019, mentioned in a current podcast interview with Save State Plus.
“I simply make issues like God of Conflict and Spider-Man and Final of Us and Uncharted [and] Horizon,” he continued, “I didn’t have the imaginative and prescient or the power to attempt to, you recognize, take it to this this new space of live-service gaming so, all that thought of, it appeared like a very good time to step down after 32 years at Sony.”
Layden left Sony in September 2019, just a little over a yr earlier than the launch of the PS5. “His visionary management might be vastly missed,” the PlayStation account tweeted on the time, “We want him success in future endeavors and are deeply grateful for his years of service. Thanks for all the things, Shawn!”
The transfer wasn’t accompanied by a proper press launch and got here simply six months after Jim Ryan was promoted to the PlayStation CEO position. When requested concerning the departure in 2021 and whether or not it was associated to inner disagreements, Layden informed Bloomberg it had merely felt like the correct time to “put the pin” in his legacy. “I believe I took my time in the meanwhile I noticed finest to take it,” he mentioned again in 2021. “And I couldn’t be happier.”
Since then, gamers have seen Ryan changed as nicely in a 2024 company reshuffle that quickly noticed PlayStation have two co-CEOs. They’ve additionally seen the live-service pivot go nowhere shortly. Whereas PS5 gross sales proceed to outpace these of the PS4 within the U.S., even with out a worth lower over 4 years into the console technology, there’s a way that Sony’s live-service ambitions this {hardware} cycle have come on the expense of delivering extra of the single-player hits and experiments with new franchises the writer’s first-party portfolio has traditionally been identified for.
And the fruits of the live-service method have been few and much between. On one facet of the ledger is a recreation like Helldivers 2, which regardless of its stunning success was technically a second-party recreation persevering with an IP from the PS4 years. On the opposite facet are flops like Harmony, the stagnation of Future 2, and a graveyard of cancelled tasks together with all the things from The Final of Us On-line to a multiplayer God of Conflict spin-off.
There are nonetheless upcoming multiplayer tasks from Sony like heist shooter FairGame$ ready within the wings, however the firm has now cancelled way more of them than it beforehand promised to launch by 2026. A spokesperson for Sony informed Bloomberg earlier this yr that it’s going to proceed to make each single-player and multiplayer video games, although it’s unclear what the precise ratio might be shifting ahead. The corporate just lately revealed new single-player tasks, together with one from Naughty Canine known as Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and one from Housemarque known as Saros, each of which look promising however may nonetheless be years away from launch.
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