Meanwhile, despite launching a PlayStation history website (with new sales figures for the record-breaking PS2), Sony has announced that the man is leaving Sony after more than three decades.
The person leaving Sony after all this time is Sony Interactive Entertainment’s head of indie titles, Shuhei Yoshida, who said in an interview with the PlayStation Podcast: “I will be leaving Sony Interactive Entertainment on January 15, 2025. It’s like announcing the release date of a new game, [something] I haven’t done in a long time [laughs]. I’ve been with PlayStation since the beginning, and this is my 31st year with PlayStation. And when I hit 30, I thought, hmm, it might be time for me to move on. You know, the company is doing great. I love [PlayStation 5], I love the games that are coming out on that platform. And we have new generations of management that I respect and admire. And I’m very excited about the future of PlayStation. So you know, PlayStation is in really good hands. I thought, okay, this is my time.”
Yoshida joined Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) predecessor, Sony Computer Entertainment, when it was still a division under PlayStation’s father, Ken Kutaragi: “Ken’s team was doing the development, and there was another team under Sony Music Entertainment Japan that was making games for Super Nintendo, and that was another small team getting ready to make games for PlayStation. So the two teams merged, Ken’s team under Sony and Sato-san’s team under Sony Music Entertainment Japan, to form Sony Computer Entertainment in November 1993. When the company was established as a joint venture, we had a party and everyone was in one room at the hotel [laughs]. I remember there were about 80 of us. We were very small,” added Yoshida.
Yoshida’s job was to talk to Japanese developers and publishers on the phone and in person about developing for PlayStation. In time, he became the head of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, the predecessor to PlayStation Studios, before stepping down to the indie post: “When I was running [PlayStation Studios] and working with big studios, it was great to make AAA games. But 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’d take a picture with the developer and try to help promote those games.”
But Yoshida doesn’t know what the future holds for him. He would definitely stay in the industry to help indie developers: “I have a few events to go to. The Game Awards are in December. I have commitments to the Taipei Game Show in January and the DICE Summit in February because I’m on the board… so I’ll continue to do that. But other than that, I have no plans. I enjoy my free time… I would like to continue to help indie developers or indie publishers if they need me. So I’ll probably continue to help those creative, talented indie teams in the future,” Yoshida said.
SIE has launched a website that summarizes the history of PlayStation. It was launched on the 30th anniversary of the PS1’s launch in Japan on December 3, 1994, and lists sales figures: PS1 – 102 million (1994-2006), PS2 – 160 million (since 2000), PS3 – 87 million (since 2006), PS4 – 117 million (since 2013). PlayStation 4 hasn’t had official sales figures for some time, and former SIE CEO Jim Ryan said on the PlayStation podcast in March that PS2 had reached 160 million…
So the Nintendo Switch will have a hard time beating the PS2’s record!
Source: Gematsu
