PlayStation
After 31 years with Sony, PlayStation legend Shuhei Yoshida has announced his retirement
From running the brand to rejecting Demon’s Souls, and eventually becoming a champion of indie games, Shuhei Yoshida’s time with PlayStation is coming to an end.
As the years go by, the video game industry has been in constant change. From huge studios changing hands to leadership being shaken up, it is always a shocking moment when one of the biggest figures in play announces an exit. Today, that is exactly what’s happening to PlayStation, as Shuhei Yoshida has confirmed that he will retire from his position in the company in January 2025 after over 30 years with the brand.
“I’ve been with PlayStation from the beginning, and this is my 31st year with PlayStation,” said Yoshida in a PlayStation blog and podcast. “And when I hit 30 years, I was thinking, hmm, it may be about time for me to move on. You know, the company’s been doing great. I love PS5, I love the games that are coming out on this platform. And we have new generations of management who I respect and admire. And I’m so excited for the future of PlayStation.”
Yoshida’s legacy with PlayStation has been a long one, being one of the founding members of the team built by Ken Kutaragi in 1993, which brought the console to the world. He remarked: “I was the first non-technical person to join the team as the company, Sony Corporation at the time, started to plan to bring PlayStation to market. So it was 31 years ago.”
Since then, he’s been with the brand and with Sony working in various positions of authority. From 2008 to 2019, he was President of SIE Worldwide Studios, meaning he oversaw the development and release of not just multiple generations of consoles, but hundreds of titles that would go on to become flagships of the industry. It was during this time that he initially rejected FromSoftware’s Demon’s Souls, calling it “garbage” and underestimating its potential due to its difficulty. Thankfully, he’s since changed his tune.
Shu Yoshida, champion of Indie Games
After his stint as President of SIE Worldwide Studios, Yoshida went on to push for indie developers on PlayStation, taking on the role of Head of Indies Initiative at Sony Interactive Entertainment. Ever since then, he’s become an active figure in the video game community, pushing for revolutionary concepts and games that searched to give players very different experiences from what they’ve grown accustomed to with the AAA side of the business.
“I love indie games. When the indie boom started in 2000, all digital distribution started on PC, on mobile, and on console,” he admitted. “Small digital games could be made by pretty much anyone in the world, and be able to sell and distribute globally. That created an amazing opportunity for the industry to try new ideas. Small games, because they’re small, there’s not big capital involved. So you can try ideas that have never been done before, and that kickstarts a totally new channel for the whole industry.”
“It was like treasure hunting for me. When I was managing [PlayStation Studios] working with big studios, making AAA games was great. However, when I went to events like E3 or Gamescom, I always went to the indie game area. (-) That’s what I was doing almost as a hobby when I was managing PlayStation Studios. So when I got this job where I could spend 100% of my time helping indies, it was like a dream job.”
While no details about his future ventures were shared, at the very least fans can rest assured that he’s not leaving the video game industry, as Yoshida himself confirmed through his personal Twitter/X account.
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