Former PlayStation Boss Shawn Layden Teases Mad Men-Style Gaming TV Series

Shawn Layden wants to pull back the curtain on gaming. The former PlayStation executive revealed during an interview with Game Rant's Character Select that he's developing a television series focused on the video game industry, one he compares to what Mad Men accomplished for advertising.

Think less documentary. More drama.

The comparison to Mad Men tells you everything about Layden's approach. That show peeled back the glamorous veneer of 1960s advertising to expose power struggles, creative battles, and the messy human stories underneath. Layden's series aims to do the same for games, exploring what happens behind closed doors in game development studios.

He stressed the narrative angle. Story-driven. Character-focused. Not another talking heads piece about polygon counts or frame rates.

From PlayStation to Showrunner

Layden knows these stories firsthand. He joined Sony back in 1987, years before the first PlayStation even existed, working in their communications department. Over three decades he climbed through the ranks across multiple continents, serving as vice president and president of Sony's entertainment divisions in Europe and Japan before becoming Chairman of PlayStation Worldwide Studios from 2014 to 2019.

That's 32 years of watching the industry evolve. Watching studios rise and fall. Watching creative visions clash with corporate demands.

The timing feels right. Gaming has exploded into mainstream culture since Layden's departure in 2019. The industry now rivals Hollywood in revenue. Indie developers are winning Game of the Year awards alongside AAA juggernauts (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 swept the 2025 Game Awards with nine wins). New markets in Saudi Arabia and China are reshaping the landscape.

Plenty of material for a dramatic series.

More Than One Project

The TV series isn't Layden's only move. During the same interview, he mentioned developing a "new publishing platform" designed to connect developers directly with fans. Details remain scarce, but the concept fits with broader industry trends where social media has become essential for game marketing.

Many developers now bypass traditional channels entirely, using Twitter, Discord, and other platforms to speak directly to their communities. They share patch notes, tease content, gather feedback. Sometimes they just chat.

Layden has kept busy since leaving PlayStation in 2019. After a brief hiatus, he served as a strategic advisor for Tencent Games from 2022 to 2024. He's also involved with several start-ups, most centred around gaming.

"Unofficially retired" is how he describes his status. Yet here he is, developing a TV series and a publishing platform.

What to Expect

No release date exists. No network or streaming service announced. No cast revealed. Layden shared only the broad concept during the interview.

But the Mad Men comparison suggests what viewers might get: well-drawn characters navigating an industry where art meets commerce. Creative ambition versus financial realities. The pressure of sequels and franchises. The rise of live service games. Studio consolidations. Crunch culture. The indie scene. All the tensions that define modern game development.

Layden certainly has opinions on these topics. He's spoken extensively about escalating development costs, arguing the industry needs to return to shorter games with smaller budgets. He's criticised the live service model. He's called for more patience from publishers when nurturing new studios.

Whether those perspectives shape the series remains to be seen.

The Question of Authenticity

One risk: gaming dramas often miss the mark. They either romanticise the industry or reduce it to stereotypes. Nerds in hoodies arguing over code. Genius designers having eureka moments. Corporate villains crushing creative dreams.

Real game development is messier. More bureaucratic. More collaborative. More tedious. More human.

Layden's experience could be the difference. He sat in those meetings where creative visions got watered down by budget concerns. He saw studios close. He greenlit games that succeeded and games that failed. He navigated the shift from retail to digital, from single player to multiplayer, from exclusive to multiplatform.

He was there when PlayStation tried to market developers like rock stars. When the industry debated exclusivity. When E3 collapsed. When live service became the siren song promising endless revenue.

If the series captures even a fraction of that complexity, it could offer something rare: an honest look at how games actually get made.

The gaming industry loves origin stories and hagiographies. What it needs is something messier and truer. Something that shows the compromises and conflicts alongside the creativity and passion.

Perhaps Layden's series will provide that.

No Timeline Yet

For now, the project remains in development. Layden offered no production timeline during the interview. Given the complexities of television production, especially for a period drama set in the gaming industry, expect a long development cycle.

Which feels appropriate. After all, that's exactly what Layden has been criticising about modern AAA game development.