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Context: I’ll never understand, as an old-school single player gamer, the allure of a live-service model. I don’t understand the appeal of the live-service model because of the cheaters, the microtransactions that nickel and dime you, and the toxic kids you are forced to play alongside. I’m in good company. Former PlayStation Boss doesn’t get it either.
The departure of Shawn Layden from Sony in 2019 was a shock for PlayStation fans. Layden spent more than half his life at Sony (32 years), the last few of which he held executive positions such as President and CEO of SCEA, and Chairman of Sony Worldwide Studios.
Layden abruptly left the company just before the PlayStation 5 was released. There were rumors of a disagreement between Layden and SIE President Jim Ryan. Layden later denied the rumors by telling Bloomberg that he had been left out. The exhaustion was felt and it was a good moment to “put the pin” it.
Former PlayStation boss sat for an interview recently with Save State Plus and said, aside from being just time, that he disagreed Sony’s increased focus on continuous monetization including live-service games. Live-service gaming and subscription models did not suit him.
“To be honest, you know, the company was making some strategic decisions about where they want to take the platform in the future with a heavy emphasis in games as a service, live-service gaming, subscription formulas, recurring revenue, whatnot, and that was kind of not my wheelhouse. I just make things like God of War and Spider-Man and Last of Us and Uncharted. Horizon. I didn’t have the vision or the energy to try to, you know, take it to this this new area of live-service gaming so, all that considered, it seemed like a good time to step down after 32 years at Sony.”
Sony’s business model was shifting to a focus on subscriptions and live service games long before the PlayStation 5 was released. Layden was a front row seat to all of these changes and he decided to leave before the major shifts began in PlayStation Plus or first-party production.
We announce with great emotion the departure of Shawn Layden, Chairman of Worldwide Studios. His visionary leadership is greatly missed. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors, and we are grateful for all his years of service. Thank you for everything, Shawn.
– PlayStation (@PlayStation), September 30, 2019
This restructuring resulted in a redesigned multi-tiered PlayStation Plus, which is doing well, and multiplayer microtransactional gaming that is hit-and miss at best. Sony invested heavily into Concord, an incredible flop that peaked at 2,388 concurrent players. DualShockers says that Sony delisted Concord less than two weeks following its launch. This made it the third-fastest failure in live-service gaming.
It is not surprising that he made this revelation. Layden has publicly criticized the direction in which the games industry is heading. Layden said at Gamescom last year that publishers had stopped focusing on creating fun games, and instead focused all their efforts on monetization. He also believes the Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 consoles are the last big leaps for console hardware.
Despite this, Layden and Sony have no animosity towards each other. Layden spent 30+ years with the company, and left on good terms to pursue greener pastures. Sony said goodbye to him in 2019 saying “His visionary leadership will be greatly missed. We wish him success in future endeavors and are deeply grateful for his years of service. Thanks for everything, Shawn!”
