Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden has opened up on his thoughts about the modern games industry, stating that “exclusivity is the “Achilles’ heel” of the modern development cycle.
In a candid interview with VentureBeat, Layden detailed how he thinks the industry has changed since he joined Sony in the 1980s, working his way up to become president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America in 2014. Now an adviser to companies like Tencent and Web3 ventures, Layden was quick to detail the problems he sees in platform exclusivity, especially as development costs continue to rocket.
“When your costs for a game exceed $200 million, exclusivity is your Achilles’ heel,” Layden said. “It reduces your addressable market. Particularly when you’re in the world of live-service gaming or free-to-play. Another platform is just another way of opening the funnel, getting more people in.
