Former PS Boss Shawn Layden Says Xbox Needs to 'Pick a Lane' to Either Be a Top-Tier Platform or Publisher - News
by William D'Angelo , posted 1 hour ago / 577 Views
Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden in an interview with The Expansion Pass podcast says Xbox needs to "pick a lane" when it comes to either being a platform holder or the biggest gaming publisher.
"You've gotta pick a lane," said Layden (via PureXbox). "Either you're going to be a platform competitive with PlayStation, which Xbox has not been competitive with PlayStation for years, but that's not out of the window - you can still make another run at it, and there are certain decisions you have to make around that about the platform. We've talked about exclusivity, we've talked about how do you incentivize third-parties to support your platform in a meaningful way.
"Or, you sit back and realise you're the biggest game publisher in the [western] world with Activision, Bethesda, Blizzard and all the other pieces - be that. This is your Dreamcast moment, when SEGA just decided they were going to be on PS2 and get out of the hardware business and just be a software company. It can be done, it's been done before. So, that's my advice. Pick a lane."
Layden doesn't think it is possible to be successful at being both as platforms need exclusives.
"Microsoft never really picked a lane," said Layden. "Or if they picked a lane, they didn't stay in it very long. Are you going to be a platform? A platform needs exclusives or else the platform has no meaning. Or are you going to be the biggest publisher in the world now that you have Activision and Blizzard? If you're the biggest publisher in the world, you almost have to be on every platform because that's how the business model works. You can't be successful at both.
"Are you going to have a subscription service? If you're going to do that, are you expecting people are going to buy content when they can get it on a subscription service anyway? How are you going to square that circle and try to make the math work?"
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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New video discussing what Shawn Layden had to say is out now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wCR1iqs7xQ
Seems to me that Asha largely has picked that lane, all of her moves suggest she cares more about saving Xbox as a platform than continuing Phil's vision of Xbox as a publisher. She is talking about reviving exclusivity, the need to refocus around the core of their business, console users, is ending art-project games in favor of games more likely to turn a profit and move consoles (like putting Obsidian with Bethesda and handing the Fallout franchise to them so that Bethesda can focus fully on Elder Scrolls instead of splitting focus), and she just moved their historically largest franchise, Halo, to their most profitable division, Activision.
Thats not really true though because Xbox does NOT have any exclusives as a platform. The games are availible on PC. And Microsoft isn't going back. Because they can't. So all this amount to is them being inconsistent. She is, as Microsoft does, making statements that get engagement on Twitter. She hasn't really planted a flag as an exlusive platform. My question, from a business perspective, is whether it is more profitable to skip the hardware and just go pure publisher. Put everything everywhere (where doable) and take that hardware R&D and put it into games. Keep those devs employed please!
The debate of what is or is not "exclusive" is itself outdated. PC is an extension of gaming, not a competitor. Therefore, games released on PC compliment the consoles. Regardless of how a person may view it... the fact remains they would still have to have another type of platform to play said games if they were not released to their preferred console of choice.
They're never going to abandon PC because Microsoft Windows is PC, which is why the next Xbox reportedly is a PC, one with the duel kernel OS that allows it to play both optimized ports designed specifically for it's Xbox store, and a Windows kernel that allows people to access Steam and Epic store and such. Xbox isn't going to care if you play their games on a self built PC or a vendor built PC or their own custom PC/console because they are getting money out of it either way, a Windows sale if it's a PC or even more money if it's the Xbox. A hybrid system solves all of their problems, people that like console for it's optimization over PC still gets optimized ports from 3rd party devs willing to optimize beyond PC spec plus everything 1st and 2nd party, the fans can play 3rd parties that choose not to release on the Xbox store from Steam or Epic Store or GOG, it's the best of both worlds.
What she has done so far is make Gears exclusive again, and has suggested that Halo and Forza and Fable will go back to exclusive after contracts are fulfilled. Clockwork Revolution was also announced as exclusive and I'm sure more will come. The releases on PS5 that Phil was doing are over with and done, save for CoD which is too big to go exclusive, Blizzard stuff, and maybe Elder Scrolls and Fallout, we will have to see on them.
Asha's leadership could deliver on quality Microsoft-published games and most of them staying off of other consoles. No way are they not going to be on PC. Once that genie was opened with ReCore launching on Xbox One and Windows on the same day, it's tough to put it back in the bottle.
And Helix is set to run Windows-based PC games. Why lock Microsoft games to some weird extra step of only playing on Helix and no other Windows devices?
He isn't wrong. But they could also unify Windows and Xbox as one platform and stop making games for Nintendo and Playstation. Only way to play those futurr games on PS6, Switch 2, Mac OS, Mobile and Linux is xcloud and that way they get both.
They did pick a lane though, and they stuck to it for like 20 years. It just didn't work out and now they're swerving all over the road like a drunk. They just need to accept it's ok to be a publisher only, and ignore the dudes on twitter that made xbox their life.
