Former PlayStation chairman sees exclusivity as ‘Achilles’ heel' of industry, urges companies to ‘get that funnel wider’
‘Consumer minds are changing’
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FormerSonyInteractive Entertainment (SIE) chairman Shawn Layden addressed the challenges facing the modern games industry in a brand new interview, calling console exclusives the “Achilles' heel” of the video games landscape.
Speaking with VentureBeat, Layden stated: “When your costs for a game exceed $200 million, exclusivity is your Achilles' heel. It reduced your addressable market. Particularly when you’re in the world of live-service gaming or free-to-play. Another platform is just another way of opening the funnel, [and] getting more people in. In a free-to-play world, as we know, 95% percent of those people will never spend a nickel.
“The business is all about conversion,” continued Layden. “You have to improve your odds by cracking the funnel open.Helldivers 2has shown that for PlayStation, coming out on PC at the same time. Again, you get that funnel wider. You get more people in.”
However, the former SIE chairman was keen to emphasize the limits of console gaming as a market. “We’re not doing enough to get heretofore non-console people into console gaming. We’re not going to attract them by doing more of [what] we’re doing now. If 95 [percent] of the world doesn’t want to playCall of Duty,Fortnite, andGrand Theft Auto, is the industry just going to make moreCall of Duty,Fortnite, andGrand Theft Auto? That’s not going to get you anybody else.”
For Layden, the upshot of this is that “we’re just taking money from the same people. That happened during the pandemic, which made a lot of companies overinvest. Look at our numbers going up! We have to chase that rocket!”
We’ve already seen Xbox attempt to break the console-exclusives mold by releasingfour previously Xbox-exclusivetitles on PlayStation. This includes the co-op swashbuckling simulatorSea of Thievesand indie rhythm gameHi-Fi Rush.
For now, it looks as though console exclusives are still with us. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, check out our lists of thebest PS5 exclusivesand thebest Xbox Series X games.
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An editor and freelance journalist, Cat Bussell has been writing about video games for more than four years and, frankly, she’s developed a taste for it. As seen on TechRadar, Technopedia, The Gamer, Wargamer, and SUPERJUMP, Cat’s reviews, features, and guides are lovingly curated for your reading pleasure.
A Cambridge graduate, recovering bartender, and Cloud Strife enjoyer, Cat’s foremost mission is to bring you the best coverage she can, whether that’s through helpful guides, even-handed reviews, or thought-provoking features. She’s interviewed indie darlings, triple-A greats, and legendary voice actors, all to help you get closer to the action. When she’s not writing, Cat can be found sticking her neck into a fresh RPG or running yet another Dungeons & Dragons game.
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