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Sony Interactive has no personality anymore

Jubenhimer

Jubenhimer

Member
With the recent Departure of Shawn Layden from Sony Interactive Entertainment, among other executives over the past few years, I've noticed something worrying about the company. PlayStation no longer has any face. By that I mean a charismatic executive who actually cares about the industry he/she works in, and is willing to present personally in front of their customers. Just look at Sony's contemporaries. Xbox has Phill Spencer, Nintendo has Shinya Takahashi and Yoshiaki Koizumi. Who does PlayStation have now? Andrew House is gone, Adam Boyles is gone, Layden is gone, Kaz has long since been promoted and is now retired from Sony as a whole, Yoshida hasn't had a big public presence in years, and people like Jim Ryan come off more as generic suits rather than charismatic gamers or developers like the others.

Now I'm not saying you necessarily need gamers and developers in management positions to run a successful gaming venture, The legendary Hiroshi Yamauchi was as Corporate as Japanese executives could get, yet he helped Nintendo be a powerhouse of the gaming industry in the first place. I'm just saying that compared to Nintendo and Xbox at the moment, SIE just feels like another generic gaming company. That said, maybe Sony could find another charismatic figure to represent PlayStation in the future, perhaps Mark Cerny could get a massive promotion to put him in such a position, and if not who knows, maybe they'll be fine without a likable front-man. But to me, Sony Interactive no longer has any personality or face, at least for the time being
 
MiyazakiHatesKojima

MiyazakiHatesKojima

Banned
Kojima-San lookin' like a snack, dunno what you talkin' about, OP.
UdsvAsr.jpg
 
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squarealex

squarealex

Member
Yeah, since Layden is gone. Sony is more active

PSNow 9,99€ with 3 big games each month, The Last of US 2 release date, more info this year for PS5, Remote Play for all iOS/Android device, Party Chat at 16, CrossPlay finalized

Sony WTF you're doing ?
 
Z..

Z..

Member
You're probably right, but I can't relate to any of this. Execs have no personality by design, even when that is not the case it's still a sham. I am very far away from what you'd reffer to as the target audience for such shenanigans, though, honestly see no value (personally) in any of it.
 
N

Negotiator

Member
Cerny will most likely unveil the PS5 in February 2020, but not sure about E3 2020. There's no Andrew House or Jack Tretton this time around.

Yoshida is a cool guy, but not very fluent in English.
 
Sub_Level

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I'm all for capitalism but maybe its getting too far when we're lamenting the lack of executives who deliver pre-baked keynotes and conference speeches. Playstation will be fine without the charismatic executive who makes 10 times more than everyone in this thread combined. They have their leaders like Cerny and Shu still making big decisions every week internally.
 
Jubenhimer

Jubenhimer

Member
Sub_Level said:
I'm all for capitalism but maybe its getting too far when we're lamenting the lack of executives who deliver pre-baked keynotes and conference speeches. Playstation will be fine without the charismatic executive who makes 10 times more than everyone in this thread combined. They have their leaders like Cerny and Shu still making big decisions every week internally.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm sure Sony will be fine without another House or Layden. Like, I said, you don't need one to do good stuff. My point though it's that it's kind of a cherry on top in my eyes rather than a necessity. Businesses by design, all want your money, but sometimes it's good to have someone likable to present you products you want to spend money on.
 
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Bkdk

Bkdk

Member
Honestly I’ve forgotten all the past executive names from Sony already. Perhaps Shawn quits because there are growing number of high level staff wanting boob jiggle physics for their female characters. Shawn got outnumbered and forced to quit. Would be the best thing happen to Sony if that’s the case.
 
T

Three

Member
Jubenhimer said:
With the recent Departure of Shawn Layden from Sony Interactive Entertainment, among other executives over the past few years, I've noticed something worrying about the company. PlayStation no longer has any face. By that I mean a charismatic executive who actually cares about the industry he/she works in, and is willing to present personally in front of their customers. Just look at Sony's contemporaries. Xbox has Phill Spencer, Nintendo has Shinya Takahashi and Yoshiaki Koizumi. Who does PlayStation have now? Andrew House is gone, Adam Boyles is gone, Layden is gone, Kaz has long since been promoted and is now retired from Sony as a whole, Yoshida hasn't had a big public presence in years, and people like Jim Ryan come off more as generic suits rather than charismatic gamers or developers like the others.

Now I'm not saying you necessarily need gamers and developers in management positions to run a successful gaming venture, The legendary Hiroshi Yamauchi was as Corporate as Japanese executives could get, yet he helped Nintendo be a powerhouse of the gaming industry in the first place. I'm just saying that compared to Nintendo and Xbox at the moment, SIE just feels like another generic gaming company. That said, maybe Sony could find another charismatic figure to represent PlayStation in the future, perhaps Mark Cerny could get a massive promotion to put him in such a position, and if not who knows, maybe they'll be fine without a likable front-man. But to me, Sony Interactive no longer has any personality or face, at least for the time being
Click to expand...
I don't care for PR figureheads. Spencer was at xbox since they bought Rare. Like early 2000. I bet nobody even knew who he was until he was marketed as xboxs saviour post-2013 and became a celebrity. Same for Mark Cerny nobody had heard of him before PS4 I'm willing to bet. I'll always love Shuhei Yoshida's personality though and he is at Sony too.
 
Jubenhimer

Jubenhimer

Member
mejin said:
I think Jim Ryan got way more results for Sony than Spencer has ever done for MS.
Click to expand...

True. But to Microsoft's credit, they salvaged as much of the Xbox One as they could. That system's initial reputation was so fucked that not a whole lot could propel its sales to PS4 levels. While Xbox as a brand has had a rough generation, it's hard to argue that Phil didn't at least turn the Xbox One around to be a decent platform.
 
G

Gargus

Banned
They make good hardware and solid performing peripherals. And best of all they knock out highly regarded, good, well selling games. I dont need a good personality from them because all I care about is playing games. Their personality doesn't mean a thing to me, the games they put out does.

Hell my doctor is a personaless guy and not very interesting at all but he is smart and gets the job done, i dont give 2 shits about his personality as long as he performs what i need him to. Ridley Scott isn't very interesting but he makes good movies so I couldn't care less what his personality is like because all I care about is his product. I dont care about Wendy's as a company, all I care about is their tasty hamburger sandwiches. Same thing with sony.
 
Jubenhimer

Jubenhimer

Member
Gargus said:
They make good hardware and solid performing peripherals. And best of all they knock out highly regarded, good, well selling games. I dont need a good personality from them because all I care about is playing games. Their personality doesn't mean a thing to me, the games they put out does.

Hell my doctor is a personaless guy and not very interesting at all but he is smart and gets the job done, i dont give 2 shits about his personality as long as he performs what i need him to. Ridley Scott isn't very interesting but he makes good movies so I couldn't care less what his personality is like because all I care about is his product. I dont care about Wendy's as a company, all I care about is their tasty hamburger sandwiches. Same thing with sony.
Click to expand...

I agree, the quality of work they do is ulimately what counts in the end. I'm just saying that to me, having an executive who not only does his job well, but is also a charasamatic and interesting person is a nice bonus, and it's kind of disapointing that Sony doesn't really have those kinds of people at the moment. But like I said, I think they'll be fine without them.
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
When the fuck was Shawn Layden a personality? Sony execs have no more personality than your average tax accountant, and the only reason you care about them is because they sometimes announce things that you like.
 
Humdinger

Humdinger

Member
Better title might have been "Sony has no charismatic figurehead." To which I would say, "So?" I don't really need a corporate President to idolize. I'm just concerned that he/she is headed in the right direction.

Sony has a company culture, which is as close to a "personality" as a corporation can get, I suppose. It seems like a pretty good one, at least judging by the games they help to create.
 
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TUROK

TUROK

Member
Yeah but this literally doesn't matter.

What did Reggie do? Nothing, dude was a corporate mouthpiece of Nintendo of Japan.

What has Phil Spencer done? Talked for several years about all the awesome changes the Xbox brand is making, but where are the results? "Buy our new console to find out how awesome Xbox is gonna be!"

Just give me good games. Couldn't care less about some dude or chick whose job it is to quell rabid nerds.
 
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Jubenhimer

Jubenhimer

Member
Humdinger said:
Better title might have been "Sony has no charismatic figurehead." I think they have a company culture, which is as close to a "personality" as a corporation can get. It seems like a pretty good one, at least judging by the games they help to create.
Click to expand...

Yeah, perhaps "personality" is probably the wrong phrasing.
 
Humdinger

Humdinger

Member
Jubenhimer said:
Yeah, perhaps "personality" is probably the wrong phrasing.
Click to expand...

Well, it sounds like you're talking about the whole company, but you're really just talking about the president's charisma or stage presence or whatever. The thing is, the president didn't have much personality/charisma to begin with, so losing him doesn't change a whole lot.

I'm actually encouraged by some of the changes so far. The information seems to be flowing, for instance. I'm a little concerned about Jim Ryan taking over, because he doesn't seem all that popular. I hope he isn't too much of a yahoo.
 
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Jubenhimer

Jubenhimer

Member
Humdinger said:
Well, it sounds like you're talking about the whole company, but you're really just talking about the president's charisma or stage presence or whatever. The thing is, the president didn't have much personality/charisma to begin with, so losing him doesn't change a whole lot.

I'm actually encouraged by some of the changes so far. The information seems to be flowing, for instance.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm mainly talking about just having a charasamatic front-man in a managment postition presenting stuff. To me, It's a bit disapointing that Sony doesn't have people like that at the moment. But again, you don't really need one to be successful. And a lot of what we've seen from the PlayStation 5 sounds promising so far.
 
Humdinger

Humdinger

Member
Jubenhimer said:
Yes, I'm mainly talking about just having a charasamatic front-man in a managment postition presenting stuff. To me, It's a bit disapointing that Sony doesn't have people like that at the moment. But again, you don't really need one to be successful. And a lot of what we've seen from the PlayStation 5 sounds promising so far.
Click to expand...

If the successor turns out to be Jim Ryan, he'll probably be more interesting to listen to than Layden, because he seems to say what he thinks, even when it's a little off. He seems a little bolder than Layden.
 
Jubenhimer

Jubenhimer

Member
Humdinger said:
If the successor turns out to be Jim Ryan, he'll probably be more interesting to listen to than Layden, because he seems to say what he thinks, even when it's a little off. He seems a little bolder than Layden.
Click to expand...

To clear things up, Jim Ryan has been president of Sony Interactive Entertainment as a whole since late 2018, not Shawn Layden. What Layden actually was in charge of, was SIE Worldwide Studios, along side Shu. He was basically the guy in charge of first party games for PlayStation, similar to Matt Booty's role at Xbox Or Shinya Takahashi at Nintendo.
 
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Humdinger

Humdinger

Member
Jubenhimer said:
To clear things up, Jim Ryan has been president of Sony Interactive Entertainment as a whole since late 2018, not Shawn Layden. What Layden actually was in charge of, was SIE Worldwide Studios, along side Shu. He was basically the guy in charge of first party games for PlayStation, similar to Matt Booty's role at Xbox Or Shinya Takahashi at Nintendo.
Click to expand...

Oh, okay, I'm getting the executive titles mixed up.

So would Ryan be in line for Layden's position, or would that actually be a step down for him?

I've heard people mention Ryan as a possible replacement. I'm not familiar enough with the Sony executive hierarchy to know how all the pieces fit together.
 
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bitbydeath

bitbydeath

Member
Humdinger said:
Oh, okay, I'm getting the executive titles mixed up.

So would Ryan be in line for Layden's position, or would that actually be a step down for him?

I've heard people mention Ryan as a possible replacement. I'm not familiar enough with the Sony executive hierarchy to know how all the pieces fit together.
Click to expand...

That’d be a step down. Jim is the CEO of Sony itself.
 
-Arcadia-

-Arcadia-

Banned
Is it nice to have relatable figures in gaming? Yes. Is it necessary? I really don't think so.

I kind of think that worshipping execs like Reggie, Phil Spencer, and Shawn Layden, is also some forced, mega-cringe shit.

I like all of these guys, and I did like how Reggie would try to give back to the fans via interactions and skits, which elevated him in my eyes, but the creepy quasi-religions around random execs trying to sell you things are too much.

It's like when guys think the waitress is actually flirting with them, and into them.

The one exception, I'd say, is Iwata, because that happened extremely organically, and because of a constant above-and-beyond outreach to fans, whether through Nintendo Directs, Iwata Asks, skits, etc., and an incredibly likable personality.

Sony will be fine. Just focus on Un-Californiaing the company, and knocking the censorship off.
 
D

Dontspeakforme

Banned
I find those “personalities” are often more annoying than not. Phil Spencer strikes a good balance, seems like a likeable guy that comes off as profesional but also has a touch of goofiness.
 
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