PlayStation has had its fair share of corporate shake-ups in the last few years, with a few executives climbing the ladder, switching focus, or jumping ship. Shawn Layden left the company in 2019, much to the dismay of industry enthusiasts. What he's been up to in the meantime has been less in the public domain, but a new post on LinkedIn has revealed where he's currently stationed.
In an update, Layden says he's now a strategic advisor at Tencent. "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 the majority of my career," he writes. Layden continues, saying we've reached an "epoch defining moment in gaming and interactive entertainment", and that he's "thrilled to continue this journey of discovery".
The former PlayStation Studios chairman left Sony because he was feeling burned out by his responsibilities. Since then, he's joined a handful of companies in an advisory/mentor role, and appears to be retaining those positions despite this new job at Tencent. In the meantime, Layden has expressed his concerns about industry consolidation and the rising cost of making AAA games.
[source linkedin.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 45
Losing this man was a big L for playstation.
Isn't it ironic, that Layden criticized industry consolidation and then ended up working from company that is gobbling up everything?
Perhaps Tencent can buy Playstation and we can get some decent management...
@sanderson72 That means there would be much more restrictions under Chinese rule.
Remember, Tencent wanted to partially fund Top Gun: Maverick and forced them to CGI away the Taiwan and Japan flags on Maverick's iconic jacket, but after realising that the film is very patriotic towards the US, they backed out and the film is no longer going to be shown in China.
Many sacrifices would have to be done in order to appease the Communist Chinese government, and it's not worth doing censorship to please a tyrannical government.
What a sell out
Wow. I lost a little respect for the guy with this
Must be some seriously heavy bags swapping hands.
I didnt see that coming. Had crazy love for Layden and feel he was a visionary creative force for the PS4, but being involved with nefarious Tencent is the eqivalent of burying your head in a pile of money.
So what, he just didn't like consolidation when he weren't part of the companies doing it?
Big surprise, big Corp guy like big Corp money.
Please bow your heads for our fallen comrade
This is a case of name your salary.
Good luck to him, I wish him well.
All I can think of is…
Et tu Brute?
@ThorsHammer When people say that the stuff Jim Ryan is doing today wouldn't have happened in Shawn Layden's day, I always think, but some of what Ryan is doing is stuff that Layden openly pushed for and still tells us today that it's needed (games on PC for example).
Layden, Ryan, Spencer... They're all basically the same. They're creative, they're visionaries, they've all been CEOs in charge of massive divisions within their companies. It's just that two of them are really good at public speaking while one is not.
@Shepherd_Tallon People just don't realize it's business out there. They imagine these folks are some heroes in capes who are loyal to a particular brand and do everything in the consumer's favour.
I like playstation when he's still around compared to now, sony seems to be in synch with gamer back then..
@Hydra_Spectre Sorry, I was being somewhat facetious. Even American Ryan is better than Chinese ownership.
I think we're just missing people like Layden, House et al - people who actually care about the PS brand and not just the $$$ signs.
His real reaction they payed me tons of money im not burned out anymore. Tencent the worst thing that could happen.
@sanderson72 I dont believe a lot of them care that much its just who pays the most.
@Shepherd_Tallon its an intresting point, i mean Jack Tretton was technically more of a numbers guy then Ryan even, but came across great in public, his humble E3 apoligy for the PS3 outage was major factor in reparing the damage, something that Ryan would struggle with. Im not big hater on Ryan myself, i fully agree, their all about the profit, but people like Layden was a 'creative' in the field, therefore came across geniune with his steps and made innovative moves for the industry. That said, im just surprised with anyone that goes with Tencent because of the moral implications, espcially when Layden stepped away at a peak time for playstation because he wasnt pleased where the industry was going.
@ThorsHammer Good points all.
Regarding Tencent's morality, I honestly can't say much. I think they are too big to ignore and someone has to do business with them, but yeah, I get the concern regarding political censorship.
I'm not at all surprised to see Layden with Tencent, however.
As others have noted, maybe they just offered him a truck load of money.
Or, maybe he feels he can do some good from the inside. Better to be at the table having a discussion rather than shouting at each other from across the fence.
Plus, Sony and Tencent have been buying shares in the same places recently, and you can bet Layden still has his contacts at Sony too.
Somebody play Mr Mcmahon's theme song 🤑
This guy criticized acquisitions in the industry and then decided to work for one of the most aggressive companies in this regard. Makes no sense for me and it shows that we can never trust these people. There is not honesty in their comments, just personal interests.
Well that's him off the Christmas card list.
Somebody got offered lots of money.
@sanderson72 Ryan is English, and has been with SIE for 28 years. He was also the president of their European operations throughout the entirety of the PS4 generation.
Shawn layden was my second favorite.next to jack tretton.its cool that you hear about him.he is miss. him and jack tretton.word up son
That's very disappointing to learn.
@Intr1n5ic I know he is - he's from the North East. Just seems like the whole Playstation brand is migrating to the States - not raising prices over there and forgetting about Japan.
@Flaming_Kaiser True, but Layden, Tretton and House actually seemed like they cared about it, pushing and promoting the brand and had played a Playstation game recently. Layden being ousted by Ryan was a sad day for Playstation.
@sanderson72 I honestly don't have a deep enough understanding of global economics to understand why console prices weren't raised in the states, but I read that the current strength of the dollar was a contributing factor in the decision apparently.
Japan turned its back on console gaming long before PlayStation stopped prioritising that market. It doesn't make sense anymore to give it the same amount of focus as the US and Europe.
Eww, there goes the respsect-o-meter. It's one thing to be offered a lot of money. It's another to be offered a lot of money to work for a Chinese behemoth that's swallowing as much of an industry. If he moved to Nintendo or MS, or even Luna it would be a console war flame fanning thing that means little. But Tencent....you just have to question someone's ethics in general to sell out to the company behind the "social credit" system. It's one step removed from taking a job running a blood diamond trade.
If only the headline was "ex-Sony boss, Jim Ryan..."
@NEStalgia couldn't agree with you more! those thoughts came to mind for me as i too had so much respect for layden prior to this news. everyone knows tencent is not in the business of cultivating talent from within and is entirely focused on control and acquisitions. as a strategic advisor for the company, i cannot see him doing anything but continue the trend of gobbling up everything in sight. the censorship culture of china/tencent is going to damn us one day. maybe layden is just fed up with the industry (after what happened at sony) and doesn't care anymore!
@ThorsHammer @Shepherd_Tallon
Hi guys
Tbh I don’t know why people always compare SL to JR. they don’t have the same job. I’m actually not sure what SLayden job really was. I know he was in charge of PR and PS showcase. People actually didn’t like him at first 2014 presentation and his last E3 was poorly staged. Shu was also in charge of PSStudios.
JRyan is CEO.
Boss was Andrew house then John kodera then Jim Ryan.
For that matter I’m quite certain if this news was about Jim Ryan the internet would be raging out hate like he killed gaming.
Let me know if I’m mistaken.
@JJ2 Layden was CEO of SIE America, and a quick look at Wikipedia tells me he was the chairman of SIE, so yes not the same position as Ryan at all, you're absolutely right.
Also agreed on your point about what would happen if Ryan had joined Tencent 😂
@Shepherd_Tallon "It's just that two of them are really good at public speaking while one is not."
Didn't expect you of all people to admit this but yeah Jim and Phil are pretty similar as they are both slimmy corporate heads interested in making as much money as possible.
But like you implied, Phil is good at least in having a friendly public face and giving the illusion of being on your side. Jim is terrible at this and his corporate and public face look exactly the same, well at least he gets points for showing his true self 🤷
First job - "Tencent buy SONY & PlayStation" Second job - "I'M BACK BABY!!!"
@Carl-G Dont understand why people are happy to get him back as sockpuppet from the Chinese goverment?
@Juanalf The same like Phil at MS he is the king at making MS look like a defenceless puppy while its a massive company with more money then some gorverments. People think he is a nice guy he is just a suit like every other one he is just a slick talker.
@sanderson72 In the end he doesnt care just like all suits. Its money that what it is all about all along now we have a smooth talker for the Chinese goverment. And dont think he will change one bit of the Chinese goverment they have some insane dictator there.
@ThatMusicFan Any real evidence that he was forced? A statement or anything besides something you picked off some back alley in the internet?
The older I get the more I appreciate the quote: "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain".
Seriously tho, this news is disappointing but perhaps he's pulling a Tony Stark-Civil War move where Tencent is coming in to buy stuff no matter what just like the government was forcing super heroes to register. Tony joined in an effort to make sure the transition was handled as fairly as it could be. Maybe Layden took the job in an effort to keep Tencent's involvement becoming too invasive. I can dream, cant' I?
@JJ2
Ah, makes sense. I guess people just assume Ryan and Layden did the same thing because Ryan is really the only public facing top dog we get anything from. At the end of PS3 and in the PS4 era, Playstation had a lot of familiar faces for fans to like: Shawn Layden, Shuhei Yoshida, and Kevin Butler (loved that E3). They all seemed, probably most sincerely by Shuhei, to love the Playstation brand and came across as excited as their fans.
Now tho, the vast majority of stuff I see from a Playstation figure head is from Ryan and he's not the most charismatic leader Playstation has ever had. And occasionally we get something from Herman Holst and probably another person I'm blanking on but we don't have anyone like we did during PS4 era and that's a shame. Shuhei got put in PR jail or something.
@thejoesenone
Yeah. Sony restructured PlayStation just before this gen starts. Scott rhode used to be one of the names in America. Shu was in charge of ps studio and now hermen Hulst got his post. Shu in charge of indies now and I think it’s very good move.
There’s no PR person like Shawn Layden used to be. I get that some people miss that but I personally really don’t care much about PR and I prefer the straightforward talk than constant contradiction aka Phil Spencer.
I think it’s a sign of the times people like demagogy talks but I guess I’m too old of that sort haha
@Flaming_Kaiser @ThatMusicFan
The conversation then moves on to the rumours surrounding a power struggle between him and current Sony boss Jim Ryan, but Layden didn't get into specifics.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/09/shawn_layden_reveals_why_he_left_sony_playstation
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