Shawn Layden, a former senior PlayStation executive who spent three decades at Sony and oversaw its 13-strong roster of first-party studios before leaving in 2019, has argued that Microsoft must decide whether Xbox is a platform or a publisher, because it cannot successfully be both. His comments, made to Eurogamer after a since-deleted LinkedIn remark suggesting Microsoft misunderstands the industry, matter because they come from someone with deep experience running a rival console business and land amid significant Xbox job cuts and a renewed emphasis on exclusivity.

Layden's central point is that the two strategies diverge: a strong platform needs exclusive content (as Nintendo relies on Mario and Zelda, and PlayStation on the likes of Kratos and Horizon), whereas the world's biggest publisher must release across every platform. He noted that at its peak PlayStation Studios never exceeded around 22 percent market share, with roughly 80 percent of business delivered by third parties such as EA, Ubisoft and Activision, and that his aim was to grow the overall market rather than squeeze partners. The article contrasts this with Microsoft's acquisition spree under Phil Spencer from 2018 onwards — including Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Obsidian and inXile, following the $2.5bn Mojang purchase in 2014 and later Bethesda and Activision Blizzard deals — which Layden found startling compared with Sony's slower approach of buying studios it had already worked with to build trust.