Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden, who previously served as president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America, has said that the “creative genius” of auteurs has resulted in some of the most memorable games of all time. In an interview with the Trophy Room podcast, Layden was asked about whether the industry “overvalues” auteurs like Hideo Kojima, with the host even bringing up Kojima’s projects like Metal Gear and Death Stranding.
In response, Layden noted that some of the most important and memorable authors in history have been known as auteurs, and even brought up Dutch painter Rembrandt as well as film director Martin Scorsese. “Look, you know, there was only one Rembrandt, right? And there’s only one Martin Scorsese. Auteurs, quote unquote, built this business.” Interestingly, he went on to “sadly” note that “quite often greatness requires a megalomaniac.”
Bringing up his own experiences working at PlayStation in the past, he brought up the console’s creator, Ken Kutaragi, for comparison. “This is a guy who worked for Ken Kutaragi, so I know what I’m talking about,” he said.
Further in the interview, Layden notes that his belief in auteurs comes from the fact that games are often stronger when led by a singular creative vision rather than being created by a committee. Due to this, creatives like Ken Levine of BioShock fame, Neil Druckmann of The Last of Us fame, Todd Howard of The Elder Scrolls fame, and Kojima tend to be important to the games industry due to their penchant for creating the most memorable experiences.
“From that chaotic genius comes games we always remember. I’ve never seen a good game built by committee. I’ve seen a lot of bad games built by committee, but I won’t name them here. And that’s just kind of how it is.”
He even brought up the fact that the goal of the leadership of companies like Sony, including himself, and these auteurs, tends to be “the same” – to make a “great game”. He went on to note how much of his job revolved around making sure that the auteurs had the freedom to work while he handled calls from headquarters or other logistical and management aspects.
“My job as chairman of the studios is just to get the rocks out of the road, lift the logs off the road. When Tokyo or headquarters starts calling, ‘I’ll take that call. You guys keep working on the game.’”
Layden has been quite vocal about the current state of the industry since his departure from Sony, from expressing concerns about massive acquisitions taking place in 2021, to more recently discussing the difficulty of Bloodborne getting a follow-up due to the sheer number of entities involved with its IP rights. He has even criticized Sony for its decision to end the production of PlayStation discs, and the role that single-player narrative-driven games play in sustaining the gaming industry as a whole. When it comes to discussing other companies, Layden has said that Xbox shows a “basic misunderstanding” of the industry.
