Not a Game but an Engagement Tool: Former PlayStation Chief Criticizes Modern Games-as-a-Service

26.10.2025 Comment Views: 20

Not every executive is enthusiastic about the games-as-a-service model.

The former head of PlayStation remains in the interview circuit, and in a recent discussion with The Ringer, Shawn Layden expressed clear reservations about live-service games — he doesn’t favor the format.

Layden says he doesn’t view such projects as proper “games”; to him, a true game needs a narrative, characters and a defined world:

To my eyes, a games-as-a-service product isn’t really a “game” — it’s a tool designed to drive players into repetitive patterns of activity.

From my perspective — and this comes from my time at PlayStation — a “game” needs three things: a story, a central character, and a world to inhabit. Titles like Horizon, God of War and Uncharted deliver all three. By contrast, a live-service title relies on repeatable mechanics that most players can learn quickly, opportunities to engage with others in that space, and the design hooks that make people return again and again.

Many live-service studios discovered their winning formulas five or six years ago, and Layden warns that it’s no longer safe to assume any newcomer will automatically generate huge revenue:

The market is crowded with teams trying to topple Fortnite or outshine Overwatch by tweaking cosmetics. If you’re entering this arena under the delusion that enormous sums will flow to you every day for the rest of your life, that simply won’t be the reality for most studios.

Source: iXBT.games

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