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Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says that companies not directly involved in the video game industry pose a huge threat to the stability of gaming. During an interview with GI.biz, Layden described the likes of Google, Netflix, Amazon and Apple as “barbarians at the gate”.
He says that these huge corporations want to take a slice of the pie and see gaming as an opportunity to make money. However, that doesn’t mean these companies know what they are doing and will likely approach this from all the wrong directions.
Layden says that these giants will end up disrupting the industry rather than evolving it and enhancing it.
“Right now, we see all the big players going, ‘Oh, gaming? It’s bringing in billions of dollars a year? I want a piece of that’. And so we have Google, Netflix, Apple and Amazon wanting to get piece and trying to disrupt our industry. I’m hoping gaming will be the first industry where we disrupt ourselves. Where it doesn’t take a Google or an Amazon to completely flip the table. We should be smart enough to see these changes coming and prepare ourselves for that eventuality.”
Layden also discussed how Sony entered the market from a completely different approach back in the day. He says that the PlayStation brand was born in partnership with Sony Music Japan and Sony Electronics. At the time, PlayStation knew it could not compete against the likes of Nintendo and SEGA.
Sony had to settle for being a third party in the industry and work on partnerships with Namco, Squaresoft (now Square Enix), EA and Activision. Layden says shifting Final Fantasy 7 off SEGA and Nintendo onto PlayStation was the industry’s biggest change and it completely moved the gaming industry.
Where PlayStation accelerated the industry, these large corporations aim to invest large sums of money and attempt to produce overnight success. They won’t settle for being a third party in the industry.
Layden says another threat in the industry is the rising cost of game development which he has described as “an existential threat”.
Marco is the owner and founder of GLITCHED. South Africa’s largest gaming and pop culture website. GLITCHED quickly established itself with tech and gaming enthusiasts with on-point opinions, quick coverage of breaking events and unbiased reviews across its website, social platforms, and YouTube channel.
