It seems that there are a lot of “talking heads” in our world today who can’t help but “speak their mind,” even if what they’re saying is basically nonsense. Anyone who is a fan of sports or things like pro wrestling knows that these “talking heads” are loud, will say anything at the drop of a hat, and often go from saying something smart to saying something incredibly dumb. We don’t often have this in the game industry, but Ex-PlayStation CEO Shawn Layden is making a case to become one of those talking heads. After all, he basically said that the entire Japanese game development industry is doing terrible right now because they’re “not reaching global audiences.”
This came in an interview with IGN Japan, where Shawn Layden noted that Japanese developers should work on “local markets” first before trying to do global ones:
“Many of these teams have not been successful for a long time and are struggling to replicate their past success.”
That’s a big swing to take, considering many elements of not just Japanese gaming culture but global game development as a whole. Yes, you could easily argue that teams at Sony and Square Enix have had some terrible years recently due to sales not meeting expectations, but you could just as easily argue that it’s because of decisions at the top that are affecting this, not necessarily it being about them “trying to reach a global audience.”
For example, Team Asobi is a Japanese developer, and they currently have a contender for Game of the Year. So, clearly, they resonated with global audiences. Or how about Capcom? They’ve had a great 2023 and 2024, and they’re already gearing up for a great 2025 because they have had, and are still making, quality titles.
Plus, the biggest elephant in the room is a “little publisher” you may have heard of called Nintendo. Yes, there is an American and European branch of the company, but the Japanese side makes the most games, including many that have released in recent years, and are still upcoming, and the Nintendo Switch is still selling lots of units despite being over seven years old. Plus, in software alone, the console has had over a billion games sold, many of them from Japanese developers.
Let’s also not forget that companies like Microsoft, Ubisoft, and others that aren’t Japanese have also been struggling heavily in recent times. That doesn’t even mention the mobile market, which Japan dominates.
So, what exactly was Shawn going for here?
