Ex-PlayStation Boss Defends PC Strategy as Sony Pivots Away from Multiplatform Releases
Shawn Layden, the former President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment of America, has explained why PlayStation's PC strategy made sense.
When speaking with the YouTube channel PSI , Layden was asked about the value of exclusives. The former executive explained that it makes sense to have games that you can only get on PlayStation, but it also makes sense to make them available to other audiences later. Layden noted that the expansion into PC was not to make money, but to grow their IPs beyond those that are already embedded in the PlayStation ecosystem.
Particularly, that importance grew when PlayStation began making plans to adapt its IPs into films and TV shows, as it meant that they needed to expand their reach.
"The PC thing, in my mind at the time, was not to make money, frankly," said Layden. "It was, 'How do I get my intellectual property in front of people who wouldn't normally see it? How do I get the world of Horizon to be seen by people who aren't in the PlayStation world?' Not necessarily because they're going to buy a PlayStation, I wasn't that crazy. But as we take our [IP] across other media, whether it's into film, television, comic books, or whatever... you need to have as many eyeballs that are aware of this character [and] this story.
"Just concentrating on the PlayStation population and only telling them these stories, and then try to bring it off that platform into other media, that's going to be a hell of a jump."
Layden went on to note that those who were buying these games on PC likely weren't going to buy a PS5 regardless, as the time between the console version and the PC port meant that anyone who really wanted the game would've bought a console for it.
"If someone's waiting 18 months for something to come on PC, we didn't lose a sale to them. They weren't going to buy the hardware anyway." Layden said.
The news comes following reports that PlayStation is abandoning PC as a platform for its narrative-driven single-player games. That means Marvel's Wolverine, Intergalactic, and God of War Laufey will not come to PC in the future. Instead, the company plans to use the platform for live-service titles, and that's about it. There's no case-by-case play here.
PlayStation reportedly felt that the PC versions of its games were inconsistent and weren't driving enough revenue, making them somewhat redundant for the brand going forward. Although the PC releases weren't topping any sales charts, they were indeed reaching people that otherwise may not have played these games, like Layden said. However, in a time where companies are looking to cut costs wherever they can, it may not have been an expense that PlayStation could continue to spare.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.