Shuhei Yoshida, known for his tenure at PlayStation, spoke about the current direction that the company has taken since his departure. In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, which you can check out below, Yoshida spoke about how he would have resisted the company’s plans to focus on live-service titles.
Yoshida spoke about how, under the leadership of PlayStation Studios head Herman Hulst, PlayStation had been pushing its first-party studios to work on live-service titles in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of games like Overwatch 2 and Destiny 2. It culminated in the failed launch of hero shooter Concord, which had servers shut down in less than a month since after its release.
“I was managing this annual budget and was responsible for allocating resources to what kind of games to make,” said Yoshida. “If the company is considering that way, it probably wouldn’t have made sense to stop making another God of War or whatever, like a great single-player game, and put all the money into these service games.”
“However, what they did after I moved on and Herman Hulst took over is that they added a lot more resources. I don’t think they told him to stop making these single-player games. They said, oh yeah, these games are great. Continue doing that, and we give you additional resources to work on these service games and try them.”
Yoshida also spoke about how trying to develop a new game in the live-service sector is an incredibly risky move, especially for a company known for its well-loved single-player titles. While some games have seen success thanks to this move, like Helldivers 2, there have been many cancellations, the latest from Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games.
“I’m sure they knew it was risky and that the chance of a successful game in this hugely competitive genre would be small,” he said. “However, the company, knowing that risk gave Herman the resources and the chance to try it. I think that’s the way they did it, so in my mind, I was, oh wow, that’s great, and hopefully some games will become successful. Luckily, Helldivers 2 did so well. No one would have expected it. You cannot plan a success in this industry. That’s the most fun part.”
“I thought if I’m in the position of Herman, I would have tried to resist that direction,” said Yoshida. “Maybe that’s one of the reasons they removed me (laughs).”
In the same interview, Yoshida also gave us his thoughts on why a Bloodborne-related project hasn’t yet been announced by either Sony or FromSoftware. While Yoshida said that he was only guessing, he spoke about how the game’s director Hidetaka Miyazaki is likely too busy to handle it, but wants to do it himself. According to Yoshida, Sony wants to respect Miyazaki’s wishes in this regard.
Yoshida has given us insights into the inner workings of PlayStation studios in the past. Back in 2023, he spoke about how, even with plenty of time spent prototyping, several games are cancelled before they are even announced. “We cancel so many games,” said Yoshida. “I usually try to convince the developer that I’m trying to save them from getting stuck with this project.”
Shuhei Yoshida recently left PlayStation after spending over 31 years with the company.
