
After 30 years of PlayStation, it’s sometimes tough to remember how much of a game changer the new platform was to the world at the tine. Sony, a new hardware competitor up against the already-established Sega and Nintendo, approached things with a new vision. According to a former PlayStation executive, one of the most important ways the company lapped the competition was by peddling its games and hardware with a flair for innovation.
Just in time for the brand’s landmark anniversary, Sony lifer and a former chairman for PlayStation Worldwide Studios Shawn Layden spoke with Eurogamer about the unorthodox and surprisingly successful ways Sony bullied its way into the gaming market in its early days. Layden explains that without a dedicated team for marketing games and brokering conversations with publishers and developers, Sony surprisingly leaned on employees in the company’s music division to reach new partners and audiences.