'This Is Your Dreamcast Moment' — Former PlayStation Boss Offers New Xbox CEO Some Words of Advice

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden has offered new Xbox CEO some words of advice as she resets Microsoft’s gaming business: “pick a lane.”

In an interview with The Expansion Pass, the former boss of Sony Interactive Entertainment America called the decision Asha Sharma now faces Xbox’s “Dreamcast moment.”

This is a reference to Sega’s earth-shattering exit from the console business following the commercial failure of the Dreamcast. That call, made early 2001, ended a run of console manufacturing that included the likes of the Sega Genesis, Game Gear, and Sega Saturn. Sega instead focused on releasing video games on previously rival consoles, such as Sony's PS2.

Fast forward 25 years, and Xbox is in the middle of a dramatic restructure that has already seen nearly 2,000 staff lose their jobs, multiple studios either exit Xbox or face closure, and various games canceled. …