Shawn Layden, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, confessed that he had butterflies in his stomach leading up to the premiere, as “Powers” marks a huge step in PlayStation’s 20-year trajectory. Layden said he is confident that this series is a good fit to introduce PlayStation users to a new source of content.
“The ‘Powers’ series has shown itself to have a strong resonance with the key gamer audience that we thrive with at PlayStation,” Layden explained. “It’s kind of an irreverent take on the superhero pathos and how that collides with the real world. It’s compelling content and we think this format, in a television series episodic way, really speaks to where our game audience is.”
Given the current TV landscape, Layden told Variety that original programming is “a must-do” in order to leverage the power of the Sony Pictures, Sony Pictures Television and Sony Computer Entertainment conglomerate.
“Everybody who’s in the entertainment field is looking for original content because that’s the differentiator between one service versus another,” Layden said, hinting that more original content is likely to follow down the line. “I think original programming is definitely going to be one of the weapons in our arsenal as we go forward as a full-blooded entertainment system.”
For his part, Copley said the show’s innovative format is simply the product of the evolution of the industry as a whole, as well as an indication of what the future of TV will look like.
“I loved the idea that it was for a new platform. I think the business is changing,” Copley said. “This is just the first of a lot more stuff to come.”
Though the pressure of working on PlayStation’s first original series may seem daunting, Godley said the high stakes actually served as a driving force for the cast.
“As an actor, as a character, that’s what you want — really high stakes,” Godley said. “It’s exciting and it motivates your character and it motivates the writing in a series. We all felt that (while) making it. At every moment, the stakes were as high as we could make them, so that was fun.”