Sacred Symbols+, Episode 343 | Jaffe x Moriarty: Chaos at PlayStation (Patreon)

Please welcome friend and legendary game designer David Jaffe back to Sacred Symbols+. Today, Jaffe and I (Colin) convene to discuss all of the latest happenings behind-the-scenes at PlayStation. As we know, Jim Ryan is set to leave his post as CEO in early 2024, and -- thanks to Jaffe's reporting -- we've learned that long-time internal production lead Connie Booth was fired from her post after having been at Sony since the late '80s, before PlayStation even existed. Then, we have layoffs at Bungie, Naughty Dog, Visual Arts, and Media Molecule, the closure of PixelOpus years into its new (and unannounced) project, and a general tension at the center of the games-as-a-service strategy, which may or may not benefit the overall direction of the brand. Jaffe is the ultimate insider, in a sense, a man who literally helped create some of Sony's most iconic brands and understands full-well how the behemoth operates from within. What does he think about the seeming chaos at PlayStation? And how do we square the optics with reality? After all, PS5 is a dynamo, vastly outselling its competitor. Are we over-exaggerating, or are we preemptively concerned? Is something wrong, or perhaps nothing at all? We'll leave that up to you. In the meantime, let the speculation commence.