Show Notes
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 #ps5
SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER -@SHAWNLAYDEN BLUESKY - @shawnlayden.bsky.social
TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:02 - Why Playstation Used Numbers For Each Console Iteration 03:26 - Being The Fix It Guy At Sony/What Motivates Shawn 05:45 - Building A Reputation 07:00 - Doing 18 Hour Days During The PSN Hack 09:00 - Why Sony Is So Good At Marketing 13:01 - How FOMO Is Used In Marketing 14:00 - Why Sony Now Releases 1st Party Games On PC/Initial Pushback 15:50 - Why Astro Bot Was Shawn’s 2024 GOTY 18:30 - Why The Japanese Are So Good At Game Design 21:57 - Western Games Are Too Big In Scope/Dev Costs Come From Salaries 23:05 - Why So Many Game Studios Are On The West Coast Of America/Environmental Costs 24:57 - Game Devs Commute Times Create Major Sunk Costs/Working From Home 28:30 - Shawn Pushed Realistic Graphics Well Acknowledging It’s Not Sustainable 30:52 - How Sony Prices Games & When To Drop The Price 33:40 - Concords Failure/Why Games As A Service Was Popular And No Longer Isnt 37:31 - Why The PS6 Won’t Be Discless 40:00 - Launching Handhelds Are Hard/Why The PS Vita Failed 43:00 - Sony Characters Won’t Appear In Super Smash Bros 44:20 - Why Playstation All-Stars Didn’t Sell Well 46:48 - Q+A - How Will The Market Of Fortnite/Roblox Players Change As They Get Older 49:28 - Q+A - Shawn’s Opinion On Microsoft’s Multiplatform Approach 51:22 - Nintendo Are Best Positioned To Navigate The “Diminishing Returns” Problem 54:18 - Q+A - What Games Did You Think Would Be Big Hits But Weren’t. 58:21 - You Learn More From Failures Than Successes 59:43 - Closing Comments
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The legendary Shawn Layden returns to provide wisdom on things surrounding the video game industry. As was the case last time, I tried to ask him a lot of stuff he hasn't been asked before. Enjoy!! TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro/Shawn Layden Made Kiwi Smarter 01:49 - Differences Between Working At Sony’s Offices In Japan,UK & US 05:45 - How The Japanese Felt When Sony HQ Moved From Tokyo To California 07:00 - Salaries In The US Are Hurting Game Development There/Outsourcing 10:20 - Nothing Will Beat GTA/Strauss Zelnick 11:45 - Shawn’s Role As A Chairman 13:30 - Shawn Knowing His Limitations As A Boss 15:01 - Games Aren’t Built By Gamers Anymore 15:45 - Publishers Are Becoming Risk Averse/Chasing AAA 18:00 - Why AAA Games Are Financed Over AA 19:15 - Institutional Knowledge/The Power Of Brand 23:00 - Sony Getting Rid Of Physical Discs 24:05 - Sony Can Take Japan Back From Nintendo 25:13 - Sony Can’t Support Two Consoles At Once 27:00 - Nintendo & Sony Are Becoming Direct Competitors Again 28:30 - Sony Putting Games On PC 31:30 - Shawn’s Views On Meetings 32:00 - Unproductive Meetings 36:00 - Employees Whose Jobs Are To Arrange Meetings 37:30 - Shawn Kills Rumor That He Spoke To Asha 38:50 - Shawn Speaks On Asha/Microsoft’s Goals 40:30 - Live Services Titles Successes Are By Accident 43:20 - Data Driving Decisions 44:50 - Spreadsheet Decision Shawn Made/Edutainment 48:10 - Success Is Seductive/Hire The Right Talent 49:30 - Avoiding YES MEN When You Are The Boss 52:00 - Shawn Is Happy He Never Has To Do A Budget/Plan & Peformance Appraisal Again 53:25 - Q+A - Was A Cell Based GPU Considered For PS3 54:16 - Q+A - How Do We Correct The Over Reliance On AAA 57:15 - Astro Bot/Sony Needs To Do More AA Games 1:01:15 - Why GTA 6 Is An Event/Diluting A Brand 1:02:20 - Q+A - Will The Japanese End Up Pulling Ahead Of Everyone Else 1:04:15 - GTA 6/Games Need To Be Shorter 1:05:30 - Girls Make Games Scholarship Fund