#184 - Shawn Layden Interview (Former CEO & Chairman of Playstation & SIEA)

Shawn Layden was former CEO of Playstation worldwide studios and former chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment America. His career in Sony is legendary as a Japanese localizer that had a meteoric rise to be one of the head honchos of the whole company. #playstation #sony #ps5SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER -@SHAWNLAYDEN BLUESKY - @shawnlayden.bsky.socialTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:02 - Why Playstation Used Numbers For Each Console Iteration03:26 - Being The Fix It Guy At Sony/What Motivates Shawn05:45 - Building A Reputation07:00 - Doing 18 Hour Days During The PSN Hack09:00 - Why Sony Is So Good At Marketing13:01 - How FOMO Is Used In Marketing14:00 - Why Sony Now Releases 1st Party Games On PC/Initial Pushback15:50 - Why Astro Bot Was Shawn’s 2024 GOTY18:30 - Why The Japanese Are So Good At Game Design 21:57 - Western Games Are Too Big In Scope/Dev Costs Come From Salaries23:05 - Why So Many Game Studios Are On The West Coast Of America/Environmental Costs24:57 - Game Devs Commute Times Create Major Sunk Costs/Working From Home28:30 - Shawn Pushed Realistic Graphics Well Acknowledging It’s Not Sustainable30:52 - How Sony Prices Games & When To Drop The Price33:40 - Concords Failure/Why Games As A Service Was Popular And No Longer Isnt37:31 - Why The PS6 Won’t Be Discless40:00 - Launching Handhelds Are Hard/Why The PS Vita Failed43:00 - Sony Characters Won’t Appear In Super Smash Bros44:20 - Why Playstation All-Stars Didn’t Sell Well46:48 - Q+A - How Will The Market Of Fortnite/Roblox Players Change As They Get Older49:28 - Q+A - Shawn’s Opinion On Microsoft’s Multiplatform Approach51:22 - Nintendo Are Best Positioned To Navigate The “Diminishing Returns” Problem54:18 - Q+A - What Games Did You Think Would Be Big Hits But Weren’t. 58:21 - You Learn More From Failures Than Successes59:43 - Closing Comments