Xbox’s multiplatform plan can succeed ‘like Sega’, says former PlayStation boss

Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has said that Microsoft’s multiplatform plan can succeed like Sega’s, but that it will make it harder for Microsoft to build “FOMO” for Xbox consoles.

Layden, who was chairman of the company’s worldwide studios group when he left Sony in 2019, recently appeared on the Kiwi Talkz YouTube channel. Among the topics discussed was Microsoft‘s recent initiative to release its major games on PlayStation 5.

“Multiplatform is a strategy, particularly in a world where the cost of development is increasing so dramatically,” Layden said when asked for his opinion on Microsoft’s new approach.

“What does it do to their brand? It makes the conversation harder to create the FOMO (fear of missing out) you’re trying to do that by bringing everyone to your platform by saying, ‘if you’re not here you’re missing out,’ but if it’s available on all platforms, that’s one of your marketing tactics you can’t use.”

Multiple former Xbox exclusives have recently been announced for PS5, most recently Forza Horizon 5, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and boss Phil Spencer has said there are “no red lines” for what could come next.

“We’ve seen it before. I was in the business when Sega brought their Dreamcast titles to PS2, in time then Sega became a software-only company, and have had a great transformation in that sense,” Layden continued. “So it does have historical precedence.”

Sega’s final console, the Dreamcast was released in 1998 and discontinued in March 2001. Following this, Sega began publishing titles on other platforms, with varied success. However, in the last decade, the company has leveraged developer Atlus to create multiple of the highest-rated JRPGs of all time.

This has coincided with an explosion in popularity for its Like A Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series, and crossmedia success with franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog.

Earlier this week, another former Sony executive claimed that there were “no victims,” in Xbox’s multiplatform era.

The former PlayStation VP said that Xbox is now “an entertainment provider” and not “just a disc producer and disc distributor”.

“So if we think about that, the analogy that maybe PlayStation is HBO, Microsoft is Netflix, and Nintendo is Disney, then their job is to get incredibly interactive and engaging entertainment out to as many people as possible.”