Industry must innovate and evolve to thrive, says Sony

The gaming industry must innovate and evolve if it wants to flourish, according to PlayStation Europe boss Jim Ryan. Speaking to MCV, the executive sounded off on the varied trends in the industry today.

“It is great that the industry evolves and goes in different directions,” Ryan said. “No entertainment industry can just carry on the way it was. For our industry to thrive and prosper it has to evolve and it has to innovate."

Ryan also explained that he believes closed platforms are "breaking down a bit" as a result of the rise of connected devices. He noted that the PlayStation 2 and PSP were not proper connected devices, and the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita are.

“This is new ground for us," he said. "It didn’t seem it at the time but these walled gardens are actually nice, cosy places, and we are now going out into the big bad world where there are no rules. We are trying to set those rules."

The executive said Sony is being forced to "reset" much of its thinking, noting the company has been pushing the original PlayStation, PS2, and PS3 "basically the same way," and this was a mistake.

"And then all of a sudden we are like ‘You have to forget that and think differently,’” he said.