For many fans, the PlayStation 4 years were defined by blockbuster single-player GOTY contenders like God of War and Spider-Man. Then the PS5 arrived in 2020 and Sony turned its attention to live-service gaming with the hopes of capturing a piece of the growing multiplayer market. Former executive Shawn Layden, who abruptly left Sony after more than 30 years of service right before the new hardware launched, recently suggested that strategy pivot was part of the reason behind his departure.
“To be honest, you know, the company was making some strategic decisions about where they want to take the platform in the future with a heavy emphasis in games as a service, live-service gaming, subscription formulas, recurring revenue, whatnot, and that was kind of not my wheelhouse,” Layden, who was Chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2014 to 2019, said in a recent podcast interview with Save State Plus.
“I just make things like God of War and Spider-Man and Last of Us and Uncharted [and] Horizon,” he continued, “I didn’t have the vision or the energy to try to, you know, take it to this this new area of live-service gaming so, all that considered, it seemed like a good time to step down after 32 years at Sony.”
Layden left Sony in September 2019, a little over a year before the launch of the PS5. “His visionary leadership will be greatly missed,” the PlayStation account tweeted at the time, “We wish him success in future endeavors and are deeply grateful for his years of service. Thanks for everything, Shawn!”
The move wasn’t accompanied by a formal press release and came just six months after Jim Ryan was promoted to the PlayStation CEO role. When asked about the departure in 2021 and whether it was related to internal disagreements, Layden told Bloomberg it had simply felt like the right time to “put the pin” in his legacy. “I think I took my time at the moment I saw best to take it,” he said back in 2021. “And I couldn’t be happier.”
Since then, players have seen Ryan replaced as well in a 2024 corporate reshuffle that temporarily saw PlayStation have two co-CEOs. They’ve also seen the live-service pivot go nowhere quickly. While PS5 sales continue to outpace those of the PS4 in the U.S., even without a price cut over four years into the console generation, there’s a sense that Sony’s live-service ambitions this hardware cycle have come at the expense of delivering more of the single-player hits and experiments with new franchises the publisher’s first-party portfolio has historically been known for.
And the fruits of the live-service approach have been few and far between. On one side of the ledger is a game like Helldivers 2, which despite its shocking success was technically a second-party game continuing an IP from the PS4 years. On the other side are flops like Concord, the stagnation of Destiny 2, and a graveyard of cancelled projects including everything from The Last of Us Online to a multiplayer God of War spin-off.
There are still upcoming multiplayer projects from Sony like heist shooter FairGame$ waiting in the wings, but the company has now cancelled far more of them than it previously promised to release by 2026. A spokesperson for Sony told Bloomberg earlier this year that it will continue to make both single-player and multiplayer games, though it’s unclear what the exact ratio will be moving forward. The company recently revealed new single-player projects, including one from Naughty Dog called Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and one from Housemarque called Saros, both of which look promising but could still be years away from release.
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