PlayStation America boss Shawn Layden proudly stated that Sony Worldwide Studios is devoted to storytelling rather than GaaS titles.
Shawn Layden, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America (SIEA) as well as Chairman of Sony Interactive Worldwide Studios, appeared on stage during the PlayStation Experience 2017 event in Anaheim, California.
Layden, who replaced Jack Tretton as President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America (then still called Sony Computer Entertainment America, or SCEA), was interviewed by Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller, who inquired about his vision for PlayStation in 2018.
You can read his reply below, or watch it on YouTube at this address .
This seems like a clear, explicit poke at the industry’s obsession with Game as a Service (GaaS) and online games in general. Publishers like Ubisoft, Square Enix and many others have openly said that this is the future of gaming, to keep consumers engaged for a longer time period, and that clearly is much easier to accomplish with an online game compared to a single player title.
That said, it’s great to see companies like Sony and Nintendo still focusing first and foremost on making triple-A single player games like Uncharted, God of War, The Last of Us, Horizon, The Last Guardian, Shadow of the Colossus, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Metroid Prime 4 and many others.
