Longtime PlayStation boss Shawn Layden left the company in 2019, and he recently gave an interview about the PlayStation’s 30th anniversary. In that interview he touched on a great number of topics, and he also revealed the one classic PlayStation franchise he’d like to see Sony return to one day.
Layden told Eurogamer that he would like to see the MediEvil series make a comeback for modern audiences. He said the game spoke to him the first time he saw it and he was a big fan of the team behind it, so much so that he helped get a sequel out the door and eventually a remaster on PS4.
“I would love another whack at MediEvil,” he said.
The original MediEvil, released in 1998, began its development at Millennium before Sony acquired the studio and created a team called SCE Studio Cambridge. This studio later became Guerrilla Cambridge and eventually closed its doors in 2017.
The MediEvil series was inspired by the work of Tim Burton and Monty Python, and Layden noted that it was “really hard” to make the comedy work for other audiences with localization. A sequel, MediEvil 2, was released in 2000, with a PSP release, MediEvil: Resurrection, landing in 2005. A remake of the first game from Other Ocean Emeryville was released in 2019 for PS4.
“If I could wave a magic wand and have one more bite at an apple, it would be the MediEvil apple,” Layden said.
Also in the interview, Layden revealed the one game he was jealous of from a rival platform–Tomb Raider. When he was working in Tokyo during the PS1 days, Layden’s job was to help bring Western titles to Japan, and when he saw Tomb Raider from Derby-based Core Design, he wanted it to be a PlayStation game from the start. He didn’t get his way, however, as 1996’s Tomb Raider debuted as an exclusive to Sega Saturn before coming to PlayStation.
“I wanted it to be on PlayStation. And I saw the [Core Design Jeremy Heath-Smith and Adrian Smith] brothers, and we talked about it, and they were really excited about the concept. We talked it through. They talked it through. Bada bing, bada boom… they signed to bring it out on Sega Saturn. Sega?!” Layden said. “And then shortly thereafter, they did get it onto the PlayStation in Japan as well, but it launched on Sega. And yeah, that always felt… What could I have done to have actually gotten it? But I came that close.”
