Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has made important statements about Microsoft’s multi-platform strategy. Layden left Sony in 2019 to serve as president of the company’s worldwide studios group. However, in his recent comments, he shared some notable views on Microsoft’s strategy in the gaming industry. Layden stated that Microsoft’s multi-platform approach could be successful like Sega’s similar strategy.
Microsoft's New Strategy and Multi-Platform Approach
When Shawn Layden evaluated Microsoft’s multi-platform policy, he emphasized that this strategy makes sense, especially at a time when game development costs are increasing. “Multi-platform is a very logical strategy, especially at a time when development costs are so high,” Layden said, and that the underlying concern behind this approach is “Are we missing out if we’re not on that platform?” In other words, it can be said that we’ve entered a period where companies are realizing the importance of publishing their games on multiple platforms in order to reach a wider audience, rather than being limited to a specific platform.
Xbox Games Coming to Rival Consoles
This strategy by Microsoft has ensured that games developed exclusively for the Xbox platform are also available on rival consoles. The recent announcement of old Xbox exclusive games for PlayStation 5 is one concrete example of this strategy. One of the prominent examples is the Xbox exclusive Forza Horizon 5's coming to PlayStation 5. In addition, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Other Xbox games such as will also be released on PlayStation 5. This is seen as one of the important steps taken by Microsoft to reach its games to a wide range of players.
Shawn Layden’s assessments suggest that Microsoft’s multi-platform strategy could create a significant competitive shift in the gaming industry. This approach aims to appeal to all gamers, not just Xbox users, by making games available to more players. At a time when development costs are rising, multi-platform is expected to become an increasingly common strategy.
