While the PlayStation 3 is often considered part of a golden age of gaming, former PlayStation head Shawn Layden reveals a different perspective. He believes Sony was fortunate to overcome the challenges faced during the PS3's development and launch.
Layden explains that Sony became overconfident after the success of the PS1 and PS2, leading to a problematic PS3 for developers. He uses the analogy of Icarus flying too close to the sun:
"PlayStation 3 was an Icarus moment for Sony. After the success of PS1 and PS2, we were going to build a supercomputer! And put Linux on it! But we flew too close to the sun. We were lucky to survive that period, and it taught us a lot. With PlayStation 4, we learned that if you can buy it, don't build it."
Layden emphasizes that the focus shifted back to games with the PS4, contrasting Sony's approach with Microsoft's multimedia-focused strategy:
"We also learned that the heart of the device needs to be the game. Not movies, not music, not ordering a pizza while playing. It's just a video game machine, the best ever. We contrasted this with Xbox. They wanted to offer users more of a multimedia experience, and we just made a cool game console."
Layden acknowledges that the PS3 took a long time to become profitable. Sony had to reassess the Cell processor and abandon plans for its use in the CPU market. In contrast, the PS4 was almost immediately profitable.
