An interview with former SIE employee Shuhei Yoshida is now available, including questions such as 'Will the PS6 be released in 2028?' and 'Did Square once beg Nintendo to stop using cartridges?'
Shuhei Yoshida looks back at 31 years at Sony PlayStation | exit interview | VentureBeat
https://venturebeat.com/games/shuhei-yoshida-looks-back-at-31-years-at-sony-playstation-exit-interview/
Looking back on when he joined the company in 1986, Yoshida said that he was initially in charge of researching new business ventures in the corporate planning department at headquarters. He then joined Ken Kutaragi 's team in 1993, but Yoshida frankly said, 'Kutaragi said, 'I'll make a game console with the same power as a workstation for $500 (about 55,000 yen at the time)' and I replied, 'That's amazing,' but I didn't really believe it.'
The PlayStation was not originally planned as an original project for Sony, but as a Super Nintendo compatible machine developed jointly with Nintendo.
Sony's Super Nintendo compatible 'PlayStation' that was jointly developed with Nintendo is found - GIGAZINE
'At the time, I was doing my MBA at the University of California, Los Angeles as a student sent by Sony,' Yoshida said. 'Sony was planning to release the original PlayStation, a Super Nintendo compatible machine, but the day before the announcement, Nintendo announced a partnership with Philips. When I heard the announcement, I wondered what was going on, because I knew the original plan.'
Yoshida also cited Square's (now Square Enix) decision to enter the PlayStation market as a major turning point for the company. Square announced that it would release Final Fantasy VII on the PlayStation during the 1996 Christmas shopping season.
According to Yoshida, Hironobu Sakaguchi, the director of the 'Final Fantasy' series, dreamed of developing a Final Fantasy that was like a live-action movie. Therefore, when the NINTENDO64 decided to adopt the ROM cartridge system, Square said that 'ROM cartridges have a limited capacity' and begged Nintendo to change the plan. However, Nintendo thought that 'CD-ROMs are too slow for game consoles and are not usable,' and did not change its policy of adopting ROM cartridges.
As a result, Square decided to move to PlayStation, and Enix, which was developing 'Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden,' followed suit.
Regarding the difficulties he faced during the PlayStation 3 (PS3) era, he recalled, 'At the time, I was a member of the management team looking at the company's financial situation, and we were losing $1 billion (about 120 billion yen). I thought that PlayStation was finished. But fortunately, Sony's flat-screen TVs were very popular at the time, and the TV division was making enough profits to make up for the losses from the PS3, so we managed to survive.'
Regarding the successor to the PS5, Yoshida said, 'I don't have any information about the next PlayStation, but I feel like it's still too early. The console cycle is getting longer, and the previous cycle was seven years. If it's a seven-year cycle, the next generation would be released in 2027, but I feel that's still too early. The PS5 generation was delayed due to manufacturing issues, but I think the next PlayStation will be released in 2028. Microsoft has also leaked plans for 2028. Both companies will probably be around the same time. There are diminishing returns on semiconductors.'
Regarding his shift to supporting indie games, Yoshida revealed that when Jim Ryan put him in charge of indie games in 2019, 'I had to choose between becoming the indie manager or leaving the company,' but he said he was confident that indie developers are the ones who will create the future. As a result, he cited specific results, saying, 'A few years ago, the Switch version of an indie title sold three to five times as much as the PlayStation version, but the gap has gradually narrowed. In 2024, many indie partners reported that their titles were selling better on PlayStation than on other platforms. Some games were even selling better than PC.'
'I'm not retiring. I'm just leaving the company,' said Yoshida, indicating his intention to continue working as an advisor to indie game developers after his retirement. 'I love working with young, talented developers. Every year they create great games. Every year, several indie games are nominated for Game of the Year. They bring an exciting element to the industry.'
in Game, Posted by log1i_yk