Nu er det jo bare holdninger i sidste ende, men tidligere PlayStation-chef Shawn Layden har løbende fået ros for moderate, overvejede og intelligente reaktioner på spilbranchens gøren og laden, også selvom han ikke har været chef i en del år.
I et interview med IGN Japan kommenterede han eksempelvis på lukningen af det legendariske Japan Studio i april 2021. Sonys Japan Studio leverede i sin tid Ape Escape, Gravity Rush og Knack, men kæmpede med at finde bred succes. Layden siger dette:
"That was sad," Layden said, adding: "It wasn't necessarily a surprise. I love Allan [Becker, former head of Japan Studio], and he worked really hard, but there was so much legacy malaise. It's tough when a studio hasn't had a hit for a while, then they forget how that feels. You know, if you have a hit once it's it's like a drug, man, you're chasing the next one, right? And then if you don't have that for a while, you forget what it felt like, and then you start to forget how to get there. There were probably two roads. One was the road they took. The other road was a real tough-love program. And maybe that's what the Team Asobi thing is. It's like pruning a bonsai, right? You get it back down to its nub and see if you can grow back out again."
Det er korrekt at ud af Japan Studio kom Team Asobi, der for nylig har leveret Game of the Year-kandidaten Astro Bot.
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