Sony's Shuhei Yoshida

The Worldwide Studios boss talks Move, creativity - and how Sony has changed since Kutaragi's departure

Feature by Rob Fahey Contributing Editor

Published on Sept. 20, 2010

GamesIndustry.biz I suppose the proof that you've never been prevented from making the games you want to lies in games like Gran Turismo 5, which... Which you're smiling about, I see, and which we're finally seeing in a couple of months' time. We also saw today that Last Guardian is now scheduled for Holiday 2011, which is later than expected. Is that just part of the company culture? Do you look at certain titles and say, we're willing to put in as much time and money as this requires?

Shuhei Yoshida

It's our company culture to try to support the vision of the creative minds - but it's more about the team culture, and the team's personality, almost. Some teams are really good at hitting milestones and release timings.

Other teams experiment more. They can never tell the final schedule until they do a lot of trial and error work. As a part of management, I do wish that all teams would hit all their milestones... But it's extremely difficult to ask people to try something new, and still keep to a schedule. Some teams can actually do that - that's an amazing ability - but not everybody is perfect. We have to look at the strengths of the team, rather than trying to get everybody to focus on one aspect of development. It's always a balance.

GamesIndustry.biz It feels like these developers are very lucky to be working for Sony - I don't think very many other publisher executives would sit across the table and say "oh, you know, we just have to let them experiment"...

Shuhei Yoshida

Well, these people - I'd say - have earned their voice within the organisation through the products that they have made. We always talk, including the marketing groups, about the status of the project, the vision of the project... You know, thank you for that. I take it as a compliment. [laughs]

GamesIndustry.biz With regard to Move, it feels a little unfortunate that it's launching around the same period as Kinect. Won't that cause confusion for consumers? How do you convey the differences between the two technologies to mainstream consumers?

Shuhei Yoshida

It's very interesting that you say that - because ever since we announced Move at E3 last year, I've always felt like we were lucky that Microsoft made such a big deal with Project Natal. In a broader sense, we are categorised as "motion gaming" - if we were just doing Move, we wouldn't have had as much coverage and attention from media and consumers.

Because you have Kinect versus Move, or Natal versus Motion Controller... I've always felt that that helps to convey our message in terms of what's unique about Move. In our mind, from the beginning, we clearly understood the difference between what Microsoft is trying to do and what we have been doing. I feel like it's a great thing, to have the Kinect versus Move versus Wii comparison.

GamesIndustry.biz Nintendo has suggested in the past that they actually experimented with Kinect-style technology before settling on their motion control. Did Sony ever try the same sort of thing that Kinect is doing?

Shuhei Yoshida

I think that 3D cameras, technology-wise, are not anything like a secret. There are lots of technologies being presented by tech companies. I have no doubt that all companies have tried it and evaluated it, and have come to their own decisions.

Yes, including ourselves - we've been doing camera research from the PS2 days, and of course we looked at 3D cameras. If you remember, we once did a presentation during one of our industry events using an early prototype of a 3DV or Primesense camera - talking about new technology directions. So yes, we're very, very familiar with the technology.

GamesIndustry.biz But you decided not to bring that to market.

Shuhei Yoshida

Yes. We decided that that's not the right technology for what we want to do.

GamesIndustry.biz Talking about the technology of rivals - Nintendo's 3DS is coming, and the PlayStation Portable is quite a few years old now. You must be looking to the future of that platform - what can you tell me about where you stand with regard to PSP now? Are you winding down what you're doing on the current one and looking to the future?

Shuhei Yoshida

Yeah, there's no denying that - it's about six years since the launch of the PlayStation Portable. When we launched PSP it was the newest, biggest, brightest thing that we had - and after five or six years, and releasing many games, there's no denying that people start to see that it's getting a bit old.

But we're always trying to expand the market - now our focus is on shifting to a younger audience and a more casual audience, and we're making games for that audience.

In terms of looking at new technology, it's always the case that as soon as we look at a new platform or new tech, our R&D teams start looking at what's new in the general space. So yes, we have been looking at new technologies, and looking at the options that we have. It's not the right time for me to say anything about it.

GamesIndustry.biz When you look at where you want to go next in handheld, even in terms of software development - leaving hardware out of it - do you see your biggest rival as being Nintendo? Or is it Apple now?

Shuhei Yoshida

I think both are. Clearly, Apple has been communicating that iPod and iPhone are game machines, or support games. Some people, consumers, may choose to buy an iPod, or be given one as a Christmas present from parents, and make do with it in terms of their need to play games.

But in terms of the kind of games that are on iPhone or iPod, or DS, or PSP... I think there's a clear definition and distinction in the kind of things that each hardware platform does well. In a broader sense, playing games on a handheld device, yes, we are competing - and in some cases, we must be competing for the same target. But in terms of the kind of games, the game experiences we are trying to bring to market through PSP seems to be quite different from what Nintendo has been doing with DS, and what Apple is doing with iPhone and iPod Touch.