Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden in an interview with The Expansion Pass podcast says Xbox needs to “pick a lane” when it comes to either being a platform holder or the biggest gaming publisher.
“You’ve gotta pick a lane,” said Layden (via PureXbox). “Either you’re going to be a platform competitive with PlayStation, which Xbox has not been competitive with PlayStation for years, but that’s not out of the window – you can still make another run at it, and there are certain decisions you have to make around that about the platform. We’ve talked about exclusivity, we’ve talked about how do you incentivize third-parties to support your platform in a meaningful way.
“Or, you sit back and realise you’re the biggest game publisher in the [western] world with Activision, Bethesda, Blizzard and all the other pieces – be that. This is your Dreamcast moment, when SEGA just decided they were going to be on PS2 and get out of the hardware business and just be a software company. It can be done, it’s been done before. So, that’s my advice. Pick a lane.”
Layden doesn’t think it is possible to be successful at being both as platforms need exclusives.
“Microsoft never really picked a lane,” said Layden. “Or if they picked a lane, they didn’t stay in it very long. Are you going to be a platform? A platform needs exclusives or else the platform has no meaning. Or are you going to be the biggest publisher in the world now that you have Activision and Blizzard? If you’re the biggest publisher in the world, you almost have to be on every platform because that’s how the business model works. You can’t be successful at both.
“Are you going to have a subscription service? If you’re going to do that, are you expecting people are going to buy content when they can get it on a subscription service anyway? How are you going to square that circle and try to make the math work?”
A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
