„We Don't Want To Be Nintendo,” Says Sony's American President

General news News PSVR 06/30/2018

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Shawn Layden gave insight into Sony Worldwide Studios’ success, as well as the way they release games.

Layden, the CEO of the American arm of Sony Interactive Entertainment, said the following in his interview with VentureBeat: „First, best, or must.’ [Your game] has to fulfil at least one of those criteria, preferably two. First means creating a first of its kind game — a genre that doesn’t exist, a market that hasn’t been actualized yet. That’s an obligation for us as first-party development. We’re not here to create games that steal market share from other publishers. Because we manage the platform, it’s not to steal pieces of the pie. It’s to grow the entire pie. If you create a new genre like Parappa the Rapper did — rhythm action gaming, who know that would be a genre? Soon coming out of our studios, a game called Concrete Genie, a new form of entertainment we haven’t seen before. If you can fulfil that at a Worldwide Studios level, we’re interested in that project.

Best is probably the easiest one to explain. If you’re best, it means if you’re making an action-adventure, you’re making Uncharted or God of War. If you’re making a racing game, you’re making Gran Turismo. Or a golf game, Everybody’s Golf, my favourite golf game. You must be the best in class.

Must is probably the other thing that reflects our position as first-party development attached to the platform. There are some games we must do, even if initially the profitability might be hard to make. For example, an easy one for that is PSVR games. We need games to move the platform. It’s a chicken and egg thing. So at Worldwide Studios, we took on some PSVR projects to support the launch of that platform and getting it off the ground.”

How is this comment mean Sony doesn’t want to be Nintendo? It’s simple: Sony doesn’t want to be the PlayStation‘s top publisher. If there are third-party titles that fit Layden’s criteria, then they hand over the spotlight while they are taking risks with experiments.

It’s an understandable approach…

Source: WCCFTech

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Angyal Anikó

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