Recently, Microsoft brought major Xbox games to PlayStation consoles as part of its multiplatform strategy, designed to expand the reach of its brand. This move has left some players wondering if Xbox will get anything in return and whether Sony might consider bringing some of its biggest titles to the consoles of its main competitor.
Shawn Layden, former PlayStation executive, believes this is unlikely to happen. In a recent interview, he discussed the possibility of Sony expanding its brand through a multiplatform strategy that includes Xbox. Layden stated that seeing PlayStation games on Xbox would make no business sense for Sony and pointed the finger at Microsoft as the root of the issue.
PlayStation games on Xbox make no sense, says Shawn Layden
In an interview with Eurogamer, Layden was asked about the possibility of PlayStation games coming to Xbox, given Microsoft's new multiplatform focus. He was clear and direct, stating that it would not make business sense for PlayStation or Sony.
Layden explained that PlayStation has dominated almost every console generation, securing one of the largest market shares. In contrast, Microsoft and Xbox have a smaller reach, making it unprofitable to release major PlayStation Studios games on their consoles when Sony systems already lead a significant portion of the market.
“ I don't know what the business imperative would be to do that. PlayStation is far and away the global leader, because it is the leading platform in 170 countries around the world. Microsoft never had that kind of global reach, so they could never build a global market to the scale that PlayStation does.”
Layden added that investing time and resources into developing ports for a smaller platform doesn’t make financial sense. From his perspective, Xbox's recent growth doesn’t justify the investment in its ecosystem.
“So the question you're asking is: should PlayStation, with that huge market lead and the momentum, apparently, going forward, should they build versions of their games to run on a competing platform of much smaller size and scale? As the saying goes, I don't know if the juice is worth the squeeze. How many additional sales would they get versus the brand impact, all the aggro?”
Additionally, Layden argued that fan reaction would likely be negative if PlayStation decided to release its flagship games on a competitor’s consoles.
Layden believes fans would be outraged if PlayStation games come to Xbox
Beyond the commercial perspective, Layden also thinks PlayStation fans would be deeply upset if Sony brought its biggest titles to Xbox. He pointed out that the community already gets frustrated when a PlayStation exclusive comes to PC months after its original console release. For this reason, he believes the reaction would be similar if ports were made for Xbox.
“Sony fanbase gets really upset whenever a game comes out on PC, 18 months after the original release on PlayStation. I never understood that aggro but, you know, it's there.”
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