Support NeoGAF

[bender]

All Good Things: A look back at Shuhei Yoshida’s 31 years with PlayStation

A conversation with Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Head of Indies Initiative.

blog.playstation.com

SID: Happy to have you, we’re going to do a lot of catching up. But I heard you had some news for us here today?

SHU: Yes, I have an announcement to make. I’m leaving Sony Interactive Entertainment on January 15 2025… it’s like announcing the launch date of a new game, [something] I haven’t done for a long time [laughs].

Good luck to a legend and hopefully a little well deserved rest.

 

[BennyBlanco]

But not retiring.

Wow. What a run he had.

 

[Thabass]

Legend.

 

[LectureMaster]

God damn, please don't!

I need to you bring Stellar Blade 2, 3, 4, 5, .... ∞ to us!

 

[FalconPunch]

OGs retiring and the new G's are trash. What a sad day it is...

 

[analog_future]

 

[Kdad]

Loved the team from the PS3 era...he's one of the last.

Also...part of a tag team that buried the Xbone

 

[nial]

Wow, and I had just mentioned him in another thread. His contribution to the history of SIE was great, I wish him the best going forward.

 

[Deft Beck]

End of an era.

 

[nial]

God damn, please don't!

I need to you bring Stellar Blade 2, 3, 4, 5, .... ∞ to us!

His job isn't related to that, not sure why people still believe it.

 

[Perrott]

31yo veteran of a 30yo brand.

Truly one of the GOAT PlayStation executives, on par with the man himself: Ken Kutaragi.

 

[KimDongHwan]

The end of an era for PlayStation. Wonder if the new team will ever figure out what made PlayStation great to begin with

 

[Heisenberg007]

Had to happen one day, but his influence was immeasurable. Probbaly the most important person SIE has had after Mark Cerny.

GG, Yoshida!

 

[Klosshufvud]

Sad. All the OGs of Playstation are basically gone now. I believe he was fairly instrumental in Sony's deal with From Software for Bloodborne. And he always seemed to have keen interest in preserving niche games and not just banking big on a few too-big-to-fail AAAs. His departure from head of Playstation Studios marked a huge degrading of their games. Maybe Sony will be blessed with another Shuhei Yoshida soon. But that doesn't seem likely as of now.

 

[GHG]

This is bad news, he's been instrumental in a lot of the great 3rd party partnerships playstation has had in recent years.

Who the hell are they going to replace him with?

 

[BennyBlanco]

This is bad news, he's been instrumental in a lot of the great 3rd party partnerships playstation has had in recent years.

Who the hell are they going to replace him with?

 

[Begleiter]

I wonder where he'll go. His successor has quite a legacy to live up to.

 

[LectureMaster]

His job isn't related to that, not sure why people still believe it.

Game Dev - Stellar Blade was a smaller game before Shuhei Yoshida played the early prototype and had PlayStation partner with Shift Up (Developer Interview)

The interview was conducted in French with both the technical director and creative director of the game Translation via the purple forum: He says Shuhei Yoshida approached them in 2021 and after seeing the prototype they agreed on a contract Sony provided full localization support...

www.neogaf.com

I never saw this was debunked?

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

Living legend, also good player of Bloodborne

 

[Punished Miku]

He can definitely be much more influential at a number of different companies across Japan, Korea, China. Wasting his time at Sony at this point.

 

[Pejo]

There goes the last of the charismatic likeable suits from the 3 big platform holders in console gaming. End of an era. I loved how he appeared to genuinely love games at his core.

Now all I have left is my sweet prince GabeN.

 

[Mr Moose]

 

[ap_puff]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

 

[ArtHands]

His potential's being wasted at Sony handling indie stuffs. Great to see him moving on

 

[Schmendrick]

 

[Represent.]

Probably because he didnt like the new direction they've been going in. I cant believe he was never given a more important tole. How the FUCK did Herman hulst beat him out for PS STudio leadership????

This is terrible news

 

[adamsapple]

 

[Represent.]

it’s like announcing the launch date of a new game, [something] I haven’t done for a long time [laughs].

There is some spice behind this quote. He doesnt like the way new Sony has been handling things.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Total legend, sucks to see him go. Especially with all of the good that he did for Sony and PlayStation. But I'm really curious to see where he ends up.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I wonder if he was asked to step down. Interesting that in the blog post it says he’s retiring but on his personal twitter account he says he wanna stay in the industry.

 

[ap_puff]

They should immediately make him a big offer at Xbox game studios for him to replace Phil and Matt Booty. Get those boys some actual taste in games

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Soooooo many possibilities of where he could end up any ideas?

 

[nial]

Game Dev - Stellar Blade was a smaller game before Shuhei Yoshida played the early prototype and had PlayStation partner with Shift Up (Developer Interview)

The interview was conducted in French with both the technical director and creative director of the game Translation via the purple forum: He says Shuhei Yoshida approached them in 2021 and after seeing the prototype they agreed on a contract Sony provided full localization support...

www.neogaf.com

I never saw this was debunked?

It doesn't need to be debunked (though I can definitely see a case of rough translation there). It cannot be anything other than him trying the prototype and introducing the studio to the folks at XDEV Japan. Shuhei Yoshida's role is Head of PlayStation Indies. and Stellar Blade is NOT an indie game, therefore he could not decide for Sony to start producing and publishing that title.

This is bad news, he's been instrumental in a lot of the great 3rd party partnerships playstation has had in recent years.

Who the hell are they going to replace him with?

Unless we're talking about indie devs, that hasn't been the case for a while, really.
Pretty sure there's a whole team at PlayStation Indies, most likely someone from there.

I wonder if he was asked to step down.

I doubt they would dedicate a full blog entry to him if that was the case.

 

[lh032]

I wonder if he was asked to step down. Interesting that in the blog post it says he’s retiring but on his personal twitter account he says he wanna stay in the industry.

lol come on. another one?

 

[Loomy]

There is some spice behind this quote. He doesnt like the way new Sony has been handling things.

No need to overthink it and speculate. Literally the next question and answer:

SID: You’ve been with Sony Interactive for so long. What’s guiding the decision and the timing

SHU: I’ve been with PlayStation from the beginning, and this is my 31st year with PlayStation. 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.

So you know, PlayStation is in really good hands. I thought, okay, this is my time.

 

[nial]

There is some spice behind this quote. He doesnt like the way new Sony has been handling things.

He said that because he hasn't been part of WWS for 5 years. Nothing deep about that quote.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I doubt they would dedicate a full blog entry to him if that was the case.

Why not? This is something they do across nearly every industry. Let the guy step down with dignity rather than fire him, especially a guy like this who was public facing.

 

[Unknown?]

Sad. All the OGs of Playstation are basically gone now. I believe he was fairly instrumental in Sony's deal with From Software for Bloodborne. And he always seemed to have keen interest in preserving niche games and not just banking big on a few too-big-to-fail AAAs. His departure from head of Playstation Studios marked a huge degrading of their games. Maybe Sony will be blessed with another Shuhei Yoshida soon. But that doesn't seem likely as of now.

He's also the reason why Demons Souls wasn't published in the west until a 3rd party did. But we all make mistakes.

 

[LectureMaster]

It doesn't need to be debunked (though I can definitely see a case of rough translation there). It cannot be anything other than him trying the prototype and introducing the studio to the folks at XDEV Japan. Shuhei Yoshida's role is Head of PlayStation Indies. and Stellar Blade is NOT an indie game, therefore he could not decide for Sony to start producing and publishing that title.

Unless we're talking about indie devs, that hasn't been the case for a while, really.
Pretty sure there's a whole team at PlayStation Indies, most likely someone from there.

I doubt they would dedicate a full blog entry to him if that was the case.

Stellar Blade was indie scope before Sony fund. If news is not debunked, then it's true Yoshida approached to Shift Up and facilitated the collaboration, which made the game what it is now.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Going to Tencent to pull in games as they build a Steam competitor...bet's ready?!?!?

 

[Topher]

Damn.....feel like he has been the soul of PlayStation for so many years.

 

[Little Chicken]

He's becoming an Xbox.

 

[nial]

Why not? This is something they do across nearly every industry. Let the guy step down with dignity rather than fire him, especially a guy like this who was public facing.

Putting it that way, maybe if we find out later that PS Indies will no longer be a thing, otherwise it's speculation without anything to support it.
Also:

SID: You’ve been with Sony Interactive for so long. What’s guiding the decision and the timing

SHU: I’ve been with PlayStation from the beginning, and this is my 31st year with PlayStation. 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.

So you know, PlayStation is in really good hands. I thought, okay, this is my time.

Stellar Blade was indie scope before Sony fund. If news is not debunked, then it's true Yoshida approached to Shift Up and facilitated the collaboration, which made the game what it is now.

Which meant that it was no longer an indie game. Sony not only funded it, they produced AND published it, there's nothing indie about that. It's a whole PlayStation Studios project, and that's out of Shu's reach.
Again, no need to debunk anything, it's simple common sense.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

.
Before the definitive downfall of PlayStation

 

[PatientGamer]

Yoshida, Mark Cerny, Andrew House, Jack Tretton, Ken Kuturagi, Kaz Hirai

These guys are PlayStation. Sad to hear this news.

 

[LectureMaster]

Putting it that way, maybe if we find out later that PS Indies will no longer be a thing, otherwise it's speculation without anything to support it.
Also:


Which meant that it was no longer an indie project. Sony not only funded it, they produced AND published it, there's nothing indie about that. It's a PlayStation Studios project, and that's out of Shu's reach.
Again, no need to debunk anything, it's simple common sense.

Jeez, you are playing the wording game hard. It is not common sense also that without Shu's initiation, this game wouldn't have been in its current successful state? Do you really not think this should count as a contribution?

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

PlayStation royalty, good luck in your future endeavours Shu, you served us well

 

[Astray]

End of an era.

Really looking forward to seeing where he ends up, probably as a board member or adviser somewhere.

It's time for the up and coming class of directors to start communicating with the fanbase now. It's honestly past time now.

.
Before the definitive downfall of PlayStation

A well-run company doesn't depend on one guy or one project.

 

[nial]

Jeez, you are playing the wording game hard. It is not common sense also that without Shu's initiation, this game wouldn't have been in its current successful state? Do you really not think this should count as a contribution?

Yes, I do? Every contribution matters, but you literally don't need him for anything else regarding the future of the series and Sony's involvement in it. It all went out of his hands once PlayStation Studios (Hermen Hulst-led division) became involved in the production of Stellar Blade.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Probably sick of Hermen’s bullshit. I’d bounce too.