He was often seen at E3 and the PlayStation Experience (who remembers those…?), and he was close to the fire.

The person in question is Shawn Layden. He has held several senior management positions at Sony. He has served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Sony Network Entertainment International, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America, and then president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios. In September 2019, he decided to leave Sony behind. Now he’s back in the games industry, but not exactly where we expected him to be… no, he’s not going to Microsoft!

“I am delighted to share that I have recently joined Tencent Games as a strategic advisor. In this new role, I hope to advise, assist, and support the team at Tencent as they deepen their activities and commitments within the industry to which I’ve devoted most of my career. We are at an epoch-defining moment in gaming and interactive entertainment. There are many possible roads ahead, but only a few are profound, broadening, inclusive, informative, inspiring, and/or sustainable. I am thrilled to continue this journey of discovery and thank Tencent for the opportunity,” Layden wrote on LinkedIn.

It is quite a surprise: Layden has joined the ranks of Chinese tech companies, as Tencent is one of the companies with a substantial expansion in the West (for example, it already has a stake in Ubisoft). Let’s not forget the other big tech company, which we wrote about last time, has already established a foothold in Europe: NetEase Games (which co-developed Diablo Immortal, but the mobile MMO World of Warcraft was never made) has recently acquired Quantic Dream, known for Detroit: Become Human, Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit, and is currently working on Star Wars: Eclipse.

So there was the call for money…

Source: Gematsu