Shawn Layden stresses importance of diverse teams

PlayStation boss says teams need to represent a global fanbase, warns that "sameness is the death of innovation and creativity".

[sixthelement]

Nice job. Diversity is good

[gangsta_red]

I love that Shawn Layden is catering to diversity and pushing for more diverse cultures in gaming...

Ryan and Layden sure have been getting Spencer level of press lately, I wonder if this is also a new beginning for Sony?

[ShadowWolf712]

It could have something to do with, you know, PlayStation and Sony having their annual investors meeting? Normal coverage of game companies as E3 approaches? Etc.

[Eonjay]

Diversity is important but people fail to realize why.
For any business, knowing how to attract the widest possible audience is key to maximizing returns.
Its just that simple.
And by diverse, we are not just talking about racial diversity, we are talking about casual vs hardcore, multiplayer vs single player Japanese and Western titles.

[Bronxs15]

i love sony and playstation, but i never liked shawn layden. he comes of like a rat to me. reminds me of worm tail from harry potter. i much prefer company faces like yoshida or phill spencer. even andrew house and kaz . but shawn layden gives me a bad vibe.
he could be a great guy tho and i don't know her personally, just my gut reaction to him.

[DillyDilly]

But are they hiring for the sake of diversity & ignoring talented people ? That seems to be the norm

[Angerfist]

Diversity in that sense only means less white folks, there is no diversity angle in Japan. And they are doing great games

Its all PR Talk, nobody cared who makes their games or which character they play until it became political

[Cueil]

Diversity of thoughts is good. Having a bunch of people who look different but think the same is bad

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Diversity of game genres is good

[Cueil]

Here here

[SegaSaturn669]

Japan > all.

I hope they never diversify from the Japanese standards of excellence.

[2pacalypsenow]

What does Japan have to do with diversity?

They have one of the most racist cultures in the world and they don't like diversity.

They also work their people to death.

[SegaSaturn669]

They produce some of the best work. Diversity is not always a boon.

People work themselves to death.

[Sophisticated_Chap]

Exactly, the USA, Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and a handful of western European countries, are the only countries required to be diverse, meanwhile the rest of the world looks at the west as a pathetic joke, and are doing the exact opposite in their societies. Japan, India, China, South Korea, North Korea, The Philippines, Vietnam, Egypt, Russia, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and on and on, none of them are doing what we are doing.

[Cueil]

Lol Chap, outside of SK and Japan anyone want to live in those countries over US or Canada?

[Cobra951]

The word is "homogeneous", not "racist". Forced diversity comes from the need to prevent race wars and ethnic cleansings. They don't have to worry about that in Japan.

[ShadowWolf712]

"People work themselves to death"

You have no clue what Japanese work culture is like. None at all.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

Explain how he's wrong.

[ShadowWolf712]

Japanese work culture is massively different than ours. For one, diversity of experience, even if you're rising in rank, is viewed as a negative in Japan. You've worked too many places, you're thus not a reliable hire, why should they invest time and money to train and prepare you when you'll just leave them for another position in another company? Hence why people will stay in the same job at the same company for YEARS most times, being passed over for promotions even, rather than risk moving to a new job.

For another, even when overtime isn't "mandatory", you're viewed as a disloyal employee or not a hard worker if you don't put in that extra time, and your name will be one of the first to come up when there's talk of layoffs, and the last thing you want on your work history is a mark for being "lazy". Employers also don't like to expand to match demand many times, and thus just increase the workload on their employees without expanding deadlines for said work, so you have to work twice as hard during the same span of time.

It's ugly there.

[Marioraider18]

@Shadow

So basically you just confirmed what 2pac said. You typed your essay for no reason

[ShadowWolf712]

Not at all. Company policies and the culture itself work people to death, it's hardly something they'd do willingly without it.

[Knushwood Butt]

Nobody wants to hire job hoppers unless they are desperate, and 'face time' along with spending 25% of the working day in the smoking room really shouldn't impress anyone (although it often does).

[IamTheStorm81]

"...is the death of innovation and creativity." How does innovation and creativity suffer if you censor the creations made by the developers, Shawn? Answer for that, if you please.

[Redemption-64]

Their games still have far more mature content than the next two guys

[ShadowWolf712]

Yes, by removing underage anime tiddy, they're practically engaging in fascism and squelching the next Shakespeare!

[ANIALATOR136]

Diversity of game storytelling yes. Diversity of the staff no.

[Kornholic]

Diversity of the staff yes, if you mean the diversity of opinion and perspective.

[Servbot41]

Diversity for the sake of diversity instead of picking the right person for the job is a terrible idea.

[itBourne]

This is very true, people have lost what diversity even is. The word alone makes me cringe with the way it is used and applied. People are losing jobs that they deserve just for "diversity" sake, when really it is a hand out or people with the same thought and perspective but a different skin tone or gender. Diversity of thought and perspective and opinion is most definitely not a consideration.

[Sevir]

Who's to say that the right people aren't getting hired? Who's to say that having a diverse pool puts talent at risk... Talented people will always get hired... A company that brings on diverse people are looking to grow cultivate and nurture creativity and different view points from people who aren't just one specific demographic.

Who's to say that talent isn't innately present in a different group of people you hire?

How do you know that you're passing on talent if you don't take the chance to see if there's talent?

[Rachel_Alucard]

Having an all female staff for example is not only not diversity but it's also a horrible environment to work in if you ever worked with all females. Constant bitching, drama, work never gets done, and they just generally don't push one another to work harder. Yet these devs keep showcasing how most of their staff is women.

[bluefox755]

Diversity of ideas and viewpoints? Sure. Diversity of skin color and genitalia for the sake of diversity seems silly. Hire based on merit, not race or gender.

[GamingSinceForever]

You make a good point but unfortunately it doesn’t always pan out to be so diverse. This is why cultural diversity laws and even gender laws had to be out in place.

Look at the staff of most Sony studios and tell me what you mostly see.

It is what it is.

[CaptainObvious878]

Who the f cares if after hiring based on merit there isn't a single black, disable woman... or a single straight white guy. You hire based on merit, end of story. why do you need someone bc their who hah is a certain colour? That's racism and I really hate racism.

[GamingSinceForever]

@CaptainObvious878 people that aren’t young white males such as yourself looking for job opportunities in these fields. That’s who.

You don’t even know what racism is. In order to be racist you have to have a system in which you can oppress, discriminate. Prejudice and bigotry is what you were trying to say.

But either way stop playing the victim. Facts are facts.

[Cobra951]

That needs to be corrected by parenting and schooling. Young people of all races need the right education and formative experiences to become intelligent, principled and productive. Passing them along into the workforce unprepared and undeserving just kicks the can further down the line.

[spicelicka]

Agreed. But adding to that, if bringing in diverse people brings in new ideas without compromising skill/talent then go for it.

[ginganinja]

Considering this has been policy for a lot of Sony devs for a while now and we've seen games as good as ever, it suggests skin colour and genitalia have no relevance to a persons 'merit'.
Whereas looking to attract people of different skin colour and genitalia will help provide the diversity of ideas and viewpoints due to their differing perspectives and life experiences.

[spambot0815]

but, but, but... activision, ea, ubisoft, microsoft, nintendo and so on brainwashed me into liking the same stuff for years... not sure if i can handle diversity now? ;-)

[Omnisonne]

Um, I'd rather have a team of the same sex and race that are experts in their field than a team of all colors and backgrounds that hardly know what they're doing. Competence > diversity. Not to say diversity is bad, just as long as people are competent, thats what matters in the end.

[Smokehouse]

Exactly. You know what you get with affirmative action and identity bullshit?

Mass effect andromeda. Followed closely by the closure of the studio lmao.

[Rachel_Alucard]

Skin color and genitalia is not what gets disagreements amongst others. It's all about how these clashing cultures and no common ground to stand on are being forced to work together and that's never gonna work no matter how hard you try.

[Cobra951]

Yes, and this is the pickle. Is the diverse team as competent as the others? Did the diverse team form under the same vetting process as the others, or were entrance requirements dumbed down for the sake of diversity? How would you know? They'd never admit it. You just know it's a possibility when diversity becomes a push.

[CrimsonWing69]

"We empower our development studios to constantly push the boundaries of gaming and give them opportunities to experiment and explore," Layden said. "We encourage them to take risks. We enable a culture that learns from mistakes and failures. As leaders, we encourage developers to act fearlessly and share new ideas. We try to be approachable, available, and responsive. "

Except when it will piss off SJWs...

[greywolf39]

Amen to that. And they really show us that diversity. So many genre in their exclusives. Everyone can find something for themself

[Smokehouse]

Nonsense lol. “It’s important that our teams look like our fans”.

What the hell does that have to do with anything? Affirmative action quota garbage doesn’t make better games.

I get the whole feel good atmosphere and touting catch phrases to please the weirdos but it’s laughable honestly. Nobody cares except the weirdos and left wing hack websites like gameindustry.biz. We just want good games from talented people regardless of their skin color, sexual orientation, gender or whatever nonsense you idiots latch onto these days.

[Redemption-64]

You cared enough

[Smokehouse]

To what? Take 30 seconds to read an article and comment? Yeah you got me there.. I do care about games, I’m registered to a gaming news website. What I don’t care about is this garbage.

[ShadowWolf712]

And yet, it's clearly allowed them to put out some incredible games.

Almost as if it's not near the negative that y'all act like it is.

[Smokehouse]

And it’s clearly ruined other studios because it was their focus and priority. If it happens that way naturally with talented people, great. But to actively sabotage yourself with dumb aspirations is silly. Affirmative action is extremely negative and the results are plain to see. The results are the opposite of intention. We have had decades of these policies and they have ruined institutions. It’s not just gaming.

For example, you have a smart black kid and you put him in MIT to fill a racial quota. He might be very smart but not MIT smart, you know? Gotta fill those quotas and “be diverse”. You just did him a disservice by putting him in the bottom 10% of his MIT class where he will probably drop out when he could have excelled in the top of his class at another prestigious college. Your good intentions are useless platitudes that help no one and the history of these policies are disgraceful.

[Sevir]

Sony's game offerings speak for itself... It seems like they understand that the hiring process.
If you're reading it at face value that all they're doing is hiring non white men for the sake of it then you probably are just thinking about this being some sociopolitical speech coming out against white people...

Chill TF out! They aren't hiring idiots and dummies of other cultures and genders to lead and replace a competent structures in their company's, they are simply not limiting the position to all white, or all black or all men or all Japanese or just because they have a talented track record...

The article states that Sony has made Significant effort to bring in New talent that is young and impressionable, ones that have new innovative ways to solve issues, voices that contribute to the buzzing creativity that's already now apart of the DNA of the studio they're applying to work for, and the pool they pick from have talent, isn't just a seasoned veteran who's worked in the industry for 15-20 years, could be an Indian male, or a white female, or a young Hispanic / Filipino male who has an aptitude for coding and solving issues. It's to this reason why distilling this to some affirmative action nonsense just shows more of who you are and how much you missed the whole point of his talk.

And even if they hired someone inexperienced and not as talented, having that person work in a group of talent people gives them the chance to be nurtured and groomed and raised and molded to become talented.
Some are inately adept and others gain competency by trial of fire and failure and repetition. And learning how to cultivate your talent as a leader is what he's talking about.

There will forever be a place for the seasoned talented Hideo Kojimas, Bruce Straleys, Cory Barlogs, David Jaffes, Ken Levines Stig Ausmussen, Jade Raymond's ... And so on and so but if you're not cultivating the next generation... What happens when the legends retire, leave the earth ...?

[Smokehouse]

I said nothing about white people lol.

“they are simply not limiting the position to all white, or all black or all men or all Japanese or just because they have a talented track record...”
What kind of dumb spin is this lmao? Since when do all white, black or Hispanic men have a talented track record? Nice try lmao.

[Cobra951]

I demand that some team members look like pimply-faced unwashed nerds living in their parents' basements.

[Smokehouse]

Sony agrees with you. Apparently it’s great PR.

[Sophisticated_Chap]

More obligatory virtue signaling by a tech company executive. This is getting so tired. Hire the people who can best do the job, not by genitalia, skin colour or sexual preferences. It's too bad this stupidity has taken over video gaming, TV and movies.

[esherwood]

I’m tired of hearing about diversity

[AK91]

Uh oh

[FreakyFox]

A global company like Sony has to be diverse, or it don't get off the ground, so why is he or the article making a big deal out of it. Nothing like stating the obvious.lol

[EverydayJoe]

Man, a lot of fake White Christian persecution going down in this thread

[CaptainObvious878]

What's religion got to do with this?

And there's nothing fake about this. Racism is racism. But you seem to be ok with racism.

[Knushwood Butt]

Religion needs more diversity and inclusion.

[EverydayJoe]

Christians, and White Christian's more specifically are feeling persecuted more and more. I was less referring to the article, but rather comments by DillyDilly and Angerfist and several others that had this persecution vibe.

[Cobra951]

Wait, what? I dislike current identity politics as much as anyone with a brain; but that comment goes somewhere else entirely.

[Orionsangel]

I went to grammar school with Shawn. They used to pick on him. I defended him. I don't like to see little guys get picked on. Way to go Shawn on all your success! Well deserved.