Former PlayStation Boss Doesn't Miss Console Wars

Former PlayStation executive Adam Boyes sounds as if he is happy for the "console wars" period of his life to be over. Boyes, who was vice president for third-party relations at PlayStation from 2012-2016, told USgamer that he loved what he did, who he worked with, and what he achieved during his run at Sony. But there was also a lot of stress.

"Sometimes I feel like I have an opinion, but it doesn't matter because I did that," Boyes said about the forthcoming launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X later this year, and all the pressure that comes with being an executive at a company launching a new system. "I put in my all. I loved it. Built an incredible team, had an incredible experience. [...] So you think that I would have a FOMO that I'm not part of it, but it really isn't. There was so much stress and I think the whole console battle concept, it takes you over. It's like, that's all you think about."

Boyes was an executive at PlayStation for the launch of the PlayStation 4 in 2013. The "console battle concept," as he calls it, is surely in reference to how PlayStation and Xbox are historically known to push very hard against each other as they try to position their own console as the one to buy. Boyes has a history in that kind of upfront strategy.

Boyes and PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida stoked the flames of the console with a jab at the Xbox One's used-game policy during E3 2013. Here they are in their video that puts Microsoft on blast for its strategy (one that was later reversed).

Boyes now heads up Iron Galaxy Studios as its CEO. The company is known for its work-for-hire titles, including the Switch ports of Skyrim, Overwatch, and Diablo III. The developer also makes original games, their latest of which was 2018's Extinction.

On the subject of console wars, Microsoft's longtime Xbox executive Phil Spencer has rejected the idea. Go to USgamer to read their full interview with Boyes.

The PS5 and Xbox Series X are both scheduled to release this holiday. Microsoft has been much more forthcoming about the system so far, sharing images of its design and specs. Sony is staying more mysterious, but with both systems due for release soon, that should change any time now.