Shawn Layden, a former executive at PlayStation, posits that the competition among consoles has largely come to an end, asserting that the gaming industry lacks the ability to expand significantly with only three key players – Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – dominating the market.
In a conversation on PlayerDriven, Layden, who helmed PlayStation during its successful PS4 era, expressed a desire to see “more people playing, more people making games.” He believes that for gaming hardware to achieve the same level of adoption as television sets, it’s crucial to transcend the limitations imposed by having just three manufacturers.
One of his main arguments is that the internal designs of the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and high-performance PCs are “all quite close” and strikingly “similar.” Layden humorously noted that future technological advancements will likely be so minimal that “only the dog can hear” the differences among today’s machines.
“In my idealized dream, there’s some day going to be – just like the Blu-ray format and MP3 format and MPEG format – all these different formats that are agreed upon by a consortium of industries,” he shared. “We need something similar along the same lines with the game format.”
He further elaborated, stating, “Let people compete with content because I want more boxes out there,” advocating that increased console variety from various manufacturers would empower gaming to become the most “socially impactful” form of entertainment rather than merely the most lucrative.
While devices like the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally mark progress toward diversification, and mobile gaming is arguably surpassing consoles in popularity, it’s evident that PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo continue to wield the most influence over the gaming industry.
Discover all the latest updates regarding the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.