Original PS4 Controller Analog Stick Layout Similar to Xbox 360

"They knew that consumers liked the 360 for shooters."

Sony has spoken out about early designs for the DualShock 4, revealing it considered adopting the Xbox 360 controller's stick placement.
In an interview with GamesBeat, Sony head of product planning Toshimasa Aoki spoke out about what the company was attempting to achieve with such a move and why, ultimately, it was abandoned.

"For the analog sticks, we did test having the analog sticks on top, since the Xbox has the left side on top [above the D-pad]," he said. "Especially from the shooter teams — we got feedback that that’s what they wanted. They knew that consumers liked the 360 for shooters."

The management team really felt that having this look is the PlayStation look, and we had to keep that.

What followed was a period of experimentation that saw the two sticks moved around the controller in pretty much every combination imaginable. There was even a version similar to the Wii U's Pro Controller with both sticks on top, though the company quickly abandoned this as it was decided PlayStation and Xbox gamers were too used to having buttons up there; fiddling with the right side too much could be disastrous.
Considering the vast range of improvement that studios were suggesting, in the end Sony had to instigate a simple rule of majority. Some developers were knee-deep in game development for the PS4 so had a clear idea of what would work for their games, though this could cause problems for others. So unless around 80 percent of the feedback agreed upon a change, it wasn't done.
Ultimately, traditional placement won out. Aoki explained, "The feedback from the user test team said that we needed to test this version, the Xbox version, and this version. [But having the two sticks symmetrical on the left and right sides] is kind of in our DNA. The prototype team, myself, and also the management team really felt that having this look is the PlayStation look, and we had to keep that."

The PlayStation 4 will be available in North America on November 15 and in Europe on November 29. In case you miss it yesterday, the company released a nostalgic UK-focused short film, looking at how the brand has impacted our lives since 1995.