As rumors suggest that Sony could be working on an upcoming handheld console as well as the inevitable PS6, former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says that handling two separate pieces of hardware at once is something the company “really struggles” with, which might not bode well.
Layden, who previously served as the chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios and the president and CEO of SIE America, gives his thoughts on the company’s rumored handheld in a new chat with Reiss ‘Kiwi Talkz’ Reilly on YouTube (below). He acknowledges that the problem is only something he can see now, looking back on his experience, and it’s this: “The company really struggles to sell two different pieces of hardware at the same time.”
Layden knows that the response to this might be, “‘What about PlayStation Portable? That was a real success.'” Well, his point still remains: “Yes, and while we were doing that, I was struggling selling PS3.”
As the former lead explains, there are multiple factors at play here – the company’s focus essentially becomes divided, and it becomes almost in competition with itself. “It’s not just development resources, it’s also marketing resources,” he begins. “You almost have to set up two different companies to do it, where neither one is worried about what the other one is doing, they’re just trying to be successful in their own right.”
He continues: “When you have one company managing both, inevitably there’s stealing from Peter to pay Paul for something else, and ‘well, we’ll move that marketing program over to this other game which is going to be more successful than that game was.’ All the tradeoffs just sort of… you lose your focus on what [you’re] really trying to get done here.”
So then, what if we really can expect a handheld console from Sony in the next generation? Layden suggests: “If Sony were to come out with a handheld, I guess maybe they just consolidate all their gaming activities around that mid-size platform.”
Sony has yet to confirm whether these rumors are true, but SIE CEO Hideaki Nishino recently hinted that the company will be “leveraging technologies that can be used in various forms and locations” when making future game consoles, which sure sounds promising for handheld enjoyers. Other rumors have suggested that the potential handheld could outpace the Xbox Series S.