The former head of PlayStation, Shuhei Yoshida, explained that Sony has no competitors outside of Japan except for Xbox. Nintendo is primarily aimed at a younger audience. After all, players who eventually grow up can be convinced to switch to a more mature console like Xbox or PlayStation.
Who is Shuhei Yoshida? The 61-year-old is one of the most recognizable faces of the company as the former head of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios. Alongside Mark Cerny, who is considered the architect of PlayStation, Yoshida is one of the key figures behind the development of PS3 and PS4.
Yoshida was joined by former Nintendo employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang for the latest episode of their Kit & Krysta podcast, where Yoshida was asked how higher-ups at Sony view Nintendo as a competitor (via Gamesradar.com).
Xbox is the competitor for PlayStation – except in Japan
What exactly does Yoshida say? In the podcast, Yoshida stated that Nintendo does not appear at all in a business analysis outside of Japan. This is because Nintendo is not a real competitor. This is also related to the hardware: The Xbox and PlayStation usually utilize similar performance hardware and compete for a similar group of players.
Nintendo, on the other hand, focuses on families and less on high-performance technology. Nintendo is doing what the competition does with the Switch 2, just at PS4 graphic levels. An approach that poses no competition for Sony outside of Japan:
[Sony’s] perception of competition is always Xbox. They see Microsoft as their competitor because Xbox has very similar performance hardware. You know, high-end console, mature games. And Nintendo is quite different. Family-friendly, games for everyone. It’s not about technologies, but about having fun with friends and family … So when Sony does a business analysis, Nintendo doesn’t even show up.
In Japan, however, the situation is completely different. Here, the main competitor alongside PlayStation is Nintendo. Yoshida also noted that Sony’s perception of Xbox as the “main competitor” applies to markets outside of Japan because: “In Japan, Nintendo is extremely strong and Xbox hardly exists.”
What advantage does Nintendo’s strength have? Yoshida explained that Nintendo primarily encourages younger audiences to purchase a console and play actively. Later, those individuals who played as children can be convinced to buy a better and more powerful console: either a PlayStation or an Xbox:
Nintendo brings a younger audience to gaming, and some of them may, when they grow up, switch to more mature systems like PlayStation or Xbox. Of course, they have [Sony] great respect for what Nintendo is doing for the industry that Nintendo should be in. We all agree it is great for Nintendo to continue to be successful so we can continue to drive the industry forward.
Did you buy a Nintendo Switch 2 and are starting the device for the first time? MeinMMO explains what settings are important for the first start and what you need to consider when using your console for the first time: 7 things you should do first with your new Switch 2
