Shawn Layden, the former president of SIE Worldwide Studios, now known as PlayStation Studios, shared his thoughts on exclusives and multiplatform releases in a recent talk with PSI.
Layden said that exclusive releases help differentiate the platform and attract audiences to it — for example, players who want to play The Legend of Zelda come to Nintendo. As for multiplatform releases, he noted that PC releases are mainly used to expand the audience and introduce PlayStation projects to a broader market. "How do I get my intellectual property in front of people who wouldn't normally see it?"
The former PS boss also addressed concerns that consoles are backtracking by releasing games on PC, arguing that the 18-month delay exists because PC and console players are audiences with different preferences: "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."
He also shared an interesting thought – that the video game industry should perhaps reach a "consortium," a single standard format, similar to how the film industry unified around the DVD, in order to reach a broader audience. "Theoretically, I think that's correct. I think practically that probably won't happen," Layden added.
You can watch the full interview here:
