Shawn Layden Wants More First-Party Multiplayer Games On PlayStation

February 20, 2019 Ryan Engstrom

All the way back with Infamous Second Son to last years God of War, The PlayStation 4 life cycle has been defined for hard hitting single player experiences! Unfortunately for some, many of these amazing games lack any sort of multiplayer component to keep them playing the game after the story is complete. Like it or not multiplayer has become one of the key corner stones of modern gaming and it seems there are hardly any AAA games left that don’t include an online component.

It seems that the higher ups at Sony are also wanting to once again pay attention to the Online world like they did back in the PS2/3 era. in a recent interview with Business Insider, Sony chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios, Shawn Layden was asked about what he felt were the weak points of PlayStation this generation.

What we don't do so much in is multiplayer. Couch co-op — I mean that's a whole category I think the industry needs to look back at. We have that with sports titles, and some racing titles, but not with much else. And I think that speaks to the power of the internet on the one hand, but otherwise we might wanna revisit that to get more family engagement in the gaming experience. But, no, I was referencing more with the things like "GTA 5 Online," or you look at "Call of Duty," or "Fortnite," or any of those experiences. Worldwide Studios, like I say, we've been going really heavy into story-driven gaming. The power of the narrative. Big, spectacular experiences. But not a whole lot in the multiplayer side of things, I think. That's an area where you will likely see us start to make more noise in the new term.

Layden’s response is actually quite candid and genuine. I personally don’t think of the PS4 as the first place to play online with that being reserved for PC or Xbox Live as they have been heavily marketed as the places for that kind of environment. But with the runaway success of Fortnite and now Apex Legends it only makes sense that Sony would be looking into how to draw in the ever growing multiplayer crowd. Maybe with the focus of online gaming coming back to the mind of Sony studios we might even see the resurrection of the long dormant Socom franchise!

How would you feel if Sony started to give the multiplayer side of gaming a little more love? Drop some thoughts below!