Sony is known for its exclusive titles on the PlayStation 5, particularly for single-player games that focus on epic stories and beautiful graphics. The former head of PlayStation, Shuhei Yoshida, stated in an interview that in the future one should not rely solely on graphics.
Who is Shuhei Yoshida? Between 2008 and 2019, Shuhei Yoshida was the head of PlayStation Studios. As a producer, he worked on iconic titles such as Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo, and Spyro the Dragon.
He left the company in 2019, but regularly speaks up about PlayStation-related topics. Most recently, he advocated for remakes, for example. In a recent interview, he discussed the direction of Sony. He is confident that one cannot only rely on beautiful graphics to be successful in the future.
Sony focuses primarily on graphics and great single-player stories for exclusive titles:
What does Shuhei Yoshida say about the graphical direction of PlayStation? Shuhei Yoshida spoke in an interview with the Japanese website AV Watch. On his X-Account, the journalist Genki translated parts of the interview. Yoshida concludes that PlayStation needs to rethink its direction instead of continuing to focus on the most beautiful graphics.
So far, the DNA of PlayStation has been characterized by values such as “top graphics” that have persisted since Mr. Kutaragi’s time. Users have expected this from PlayStation games. However, it is time for us to rethink this. Of course, I consider it necessary to provide the best (in terms of graphic quality) for those who want it. But to remain broadly popular among users, we must change our way of thinking.
While Yoshida is convinced that one should still rely on big games with great graphics, he believes that it’s time to rethink how to proceed for the future. In this regard, he states that it would be best to have a younger generation involved. However, he is optimistic about what the team will do in the future.
What is the problem with AAA games? Large and graphically impressive games are very expensive and time-consuming to develop. This leads to high risks and can result in major flops, such as Concord.
Development times are getting longer, and smaller games can be a good buffer for that. A significant success was also Astro Bot. As a 3D platformer, it is a rather atypical game for modern Sony, but it has been well received, even by MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz.
Through games like Astro Bot, new target groups can also be reached. As Gamesradar reported, the game sold 1.5 million copies in the first 2 months, and a remarkable 37% of those have not purchased a first-party title in 2 years.
How things will develop for PlayStation in the future remains to be seen. However, the video game company has done quite well with the PS4 and PS5. Before that, they had issues with the PS3, as the console caused significant losses initially, as he revealed in another interview: The PS3 caused Sony headaches; the former head thought ‘PlayStation was done.’
