After spending pretty much his entire career at PlayStation, amounting to 31 years at the company, Shuhei Yoshida, the former president of PlayStation Studios and current head of indie initiatives at PlayStation is leaving.
He’s not retiring – Yoshida-san is known for being active on social media, so it was no surprise to see him answering questions from fans the moment the news broke on the PlayStation Blog.
When asked if he was retiring on Twitter, he replied “No, I’d like to stay in the industry.” So he’s presumably going somewhere else, but not by tomorrow. He’s leaving PlayStation, but not until January 15, 2025.
Maybe he’ll announce his next venture then, or maybe he’ll just be playing indie games. For now, there’s a podcast interview with Yoshida-san on PlayStation’s official podcast, and a condensed version of said interview as a post on the PS Blog about his career and why he’s leaving.
“I’ve been with PlayStation from the beginning, and this is my 31st year with PlayStation,” Yoshida-san began when asked why he’s leaving now.
“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.”
It’s a reality of the games industry that some of its most iconic names and faces are beginning to retire, batons are being passed and while it may not exactly be today, one day Yoshida-san will retire.
PlayStation surely won’t be the same without him, as the interview dives into the fact that he’s one of the oldest employees at the company, having been a part of Sony’s gaming foundations and was the first “non-technical person to join the team,” while the first console was being developed.
He’s had a profound impact on PlayStation in the platform’s history, and to see him go is undoubtedly a huge blow for the platform.
But that’s Sony’s problem. Who could blame him if he wanted a bit more gaming time?
Source – [PlayStation Blog]