Most success stories don’t always go smooth sailing. Take Shawn Layden, the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America, and his journey rising up through the ranks at Sony. When it appeared he could do no wrong, the PlayStation 3 appeared like a grill-shaped roadblock in the freewheeling lane. Now, for the first time, Layden has laid bare his reaction to the failings of the console, even going as far as comparing it to a Greek tragedy (no, not Kratos. For once.)
Speaking at the Gamelab event in Barcelona alongside long-time colleague Mark Cerny, the conversation soon turned to a period in time that was sure to stick in the craw of Layden: the PlayStation 3’s launch. Dogged by an obscene price tag and lacklustre day-one titles, the PS3 never really recovered from its stumble out of the starting gates, and Layden concurs.
“Sometimes you can go back and look at it and say that was our Icarus moment. We flew too close to the sun. We took a bit of a dip in the business, to say the least, during the PlayStation 3 era. Only finally fighting it out to parity with Xbox 360 by the end of the life cycle,” Layden explains.
But, as we all know, the story doesn’t end there. Lessons were learned before the PS4 launched. So much so that Layden feels it “is a story of redemption. I think we came back. We had the right hardware specs, thank you very much. And we had good support from our partners. I think we got back to our basis of PlayStation being a people’s platform.”
At the very least, it’s nice to see Layden so transparent about mistakes that were made and how they were then able to steady themselves as they reached a new console generation. It begs the question: what lessons will the PS5 take from the current generation?
[Source: VentureBeat]
Now Loading E3 2018 Sony Conference
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Anthony Severino
Gimme dat PS5.
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Paulmichael Contreras
I think I'm with Sev on this one. Seeing the PlayStation 5, with tech demos galore running on at least prototype hardware, would be great. I'm imagining a beast of a system, capable of running everything in 4K HDR @ 60 frames per second, with a 2 TB HDD and at least 16 GB of RAM. Plus, since the architecture shift to x86-64 seen with the current-gen system, it could potentially include native backwards compatibility with the PS4.
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Keri Honea
They're reviving Scalebound with Platinum Games strictly for the PS4.
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Anthony Nash
I’m likely in a very tiny minority of people who want this, but I would genuinely love either a new entry in the Soul Reaver franchise or a remake of one of the older games.
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Chandler Wood
SSX. Something like Tricky. I know it's not Sony, but a guy can dream.On Sony's side, I'd go nuts if they announced a new Twisted Metal in the vein of old school Twisted Metals. Don't give me that three character story that was on PS3. I want numerous characters, endings, and that insanely fun arcade gameplay full of secrets.
Other than that, the industry has been doing a pretty good job of fulfilling my dreams about games and making me go crazy. Let's see some of those games release first, like Final Fantasy VII Remake. In fact, a release date for that would have me going wild. -
Cameron Teague
Since PlayStation owners never got to experience Last Remnant, this is the perfect time for it to grace the PS4. Yes, I know Square Enix is super busy, but come on, give us a Last Remnant 2, with a remaster of the original as well!
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Zarmena Kahn
Rockstar's Agent. Where did it go!?!?
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Matthew Forde
Sony’s press conferences are always a high point of E3. In recent memory, PlayStation have wowed fans with an orchestral intro into the new God of War, Hideo Kojima making his triumphant return by marching over a light up runway and Spider-Man saving New York from a wrecked helicopter. For me to reach new heights of glee, there is nothing I want to see more than the reveal of Rocksteady’s next project. Rumors have circulated (and recently more gained traction) that a Superman game is in the works – of which I’d be thrilled with – however to make me lose my goddamn mind, a Batman Beyond game in the Arkham-verse would have to be revealed. To top that off, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill return to play a more seasoned Bruce Wayne and Joker respectively, whilst having someone like Troy Baker fill the role of Terry McGinnis. Is that too much to ask for?
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Lucas White
This one's not as Gatorade Hype Moment, but I just want the Devil May Cry 5 rumors to be real. I want a real sequel to the series, and I want Cool Anime Dante back. I want to see him mugging for the camera, making corny jokes, and doing ridiculous things like setting off explosives in the shape of a heart again. I want the combat to go back to skill-based score chasing. I just want to forget Edgy Nerd Dante ever was a thing.
The rest of E3 could be a bust but that would make it totally fine and great. Resident Evil 2 Remake showing up wouldn't hurt either.
