Yoshida's departure was revealed in a post to the PlayStation Blog, where he said: "I've been with PlayStation from the beginning, and this is my 31st year with PlayStation. 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."
While it first appeared Yoshida would be retiring, he has clarified he'll continue working and hopes to remain in the video game industry:
The post explores Yoshida's time at PlayStation, starting off with tales of Ken Kutanagi from 1993, as Sony launched the PS1. "When I joined Ken's team, my assignment was to talk to publishers and developers in Japan," he explained. "So as a lead in account management, I made a phone call to many companies in Japan, publishers and developers from Hokkaido to Kyushu and made an appointment and brought a group of people of executives including Ken Kutaragi himself, to visit the publisher and talk about PlayStation, hoping that they would make games on PlayStation."
Fast forward to his more recent role as leading the indie initiative at PlayStation, and Yoshida speaks of his love of titles from independent developers. "When the indie boom started in 2000, all digital distribution started on PC, on mobile, and on console. Small digital games could be made by pretty much anyone in the world, and be able to sell and distribute globally. That created an amazing opportunity for the industry to try new ideas." Shuhei Yoshida will now leave PlayStation on 15th January 2025, having served 31 years with Sony.
[source blog.playstation.com]
PlayStation Exec Shuhei Yoshida Will Leave the Company in January
After 31 years of service at PlayStation
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