At the age of 60, Shuhei Yoshida, former producer and president of what was formerly called Sony Worldwide Studios, has just announced his departure from Sony Interactive Entertainment. He will leave the company on January 15, 2025 after 31 years of good and loyal service, and even if the reasons have not been mentioned, we imagine that it is to enjoy his retirement. It’s definitely a page that is turning for the PlayStation brand, he who has made it more likeable, with his jovial smile and his constant good humor. It was in a PlayStation podcast that he announced his departure, while having somewhat nostalgic words:
“I’ve been with PlayStation since the beginning, and this is my 31st year with PlayStation. And when I hit 30, I thought, ‘Hmm, maybe it’s time for me to move on. You know, the company is doing very well, I love it. [la PlayStation 5]I love the games that come out on this platform. And we have new generations of leaders that I respect and admire. And I’m very excited for the future of PlayStation. You know, PlayStation is in very good hands. I told myself it was my turn.”
If he has taken care of many things within Sony and the PlayStation brand, it is his intervention at E3 2013 which will seal his popularity with gamers, with this small capsule thrown into the middle of the Los Angeles show while Xbox was in the doldrums with its Xbox One and its concept of multimedia console which already advocated everything dematerialized. The opportunity for Sony to show that physical media was still a priority for the Japanese manufacturer and that lending games to friends still had value 11 years earlier.
Shuhai Yoshida joined Sony Interactive Entertainment, then Sony Computer Entertainment, when it was still just a department under Ken Kutaragi, the creator of the PlayStation.
“Ken’s team was doing development, and there was another team under Sony Music Entertainment Japan that was making games for the Super Nintendo, and it was another small team that was getting ready to make games. games for the PlayStation,” Yoshida said. “So the two teams merged, Ken’s team under Sony and Sato-san’s team under Sony Music Entertainment Japan, to create Sony Computer Entertainment. in November 1993. When the company was created as a joint venture we had a party and everyone was in one room in the hotel [rires]. I remember there were about 80 of us in total. We were very small.”
Yoshida’s job was to talk to publishers and developers in Japan, making phone calls and visiting them in the hopes that they would make games for the PlayStation. Yoshida eventually became president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, now known as PlayStation Studios, before stepping down to lead Sony Interactive Entertainment’s independent games initiative. This is something he will continue for the rest of his career, with an approach focused on new emerging countries in Asia, notably China, South Korea and Malaysia. In 2019, Shuhai Yoshida will make Kuala Lumpur one of the new video game capitals, by launching PlayStation Malaysia with the help of the local government.
“When I was leading [PlayStation Studios] working with big studios, making AAA games was awesome,” said Yoshida. “However, when I went to events like E3 or Gamescom, I always went to the indie games area. And I would find games that I liked, and often the developer would be there to present them. So I was taking a photo with the developer, trying to help promote these games.”
As for what the future holds, Yoshida said that while he doesn’t have any plans yet, he would like to stay in the industry and help indie game developers.
“I have a few events to attend. The Game Awards are in December. I have commitments for the Taipei Game Show in January and the DICE Summit in February, since I’m on the board of directors… so I’ll continue to do so. But other than that, I don’t have any plans. creative and talented independents in the future.”
The last great figurehead of the PlayStation brand Shuhei Yoshida will therefore leave an indelible mark on the world of video games after Ken Kutaragi, Kazuo Hirai, Jack Tretton, Andrew House, Shawn Layden and even Jim Ryan, even if the latter is more criticized than ‘something else. Not everyone is lucky enough to have the same friendly face as Yoshida-san after all…