The Head of Worldwide Studios for SCE, Shuhei Yoshida (better known as Shu), was featured previously in an interview we covered and enjoyed. IGN has released coverage of an interview with Shu from the Games Convention in Leipzig last month and it’s quite revealing. Shu talks about moving to Japan, his beginnings, and his business style. Other items of interest include the revelation that 2009 will be a hot year for new unique games and not more sequels. We also found Shu’s perspective on the struggles of the PSP gaining market momentum outside Japan quite interesting.
IGN: How are you settling in your new role?
Shuhei Yoshida: I think it’s going very well actually – I’m in the middle of moving my base from the US to Japan. For me, it’s been a case of setting up the appropriate management in Europe and the US and now I’m very pleased with how we are set up internally. I’m feeling very, very good about it.
IGN: You’ve been a Sony employee for some years. Tell us about your history with the company.
Shuhei Yoshida: I started in the Sony electronics side, and then Ken [Kutaragi] started doing the PS1. In February 1993 I joined the team and my first job was to present the case to Sony why they should invest in this new kind of videogame technology. Sony Computer Entertainment was formed in November of that year.
IGN: You’re filling Phil Harrison’s shoes. He was quite a public face for Sony – are you going to be taking on the same role?
Shuhei Yoshida: In my mind he always played a dual role; one of managing the studios and the other as an evangelist for the platform. And he’s been doing it since PS1 days and he was excellent about it. So I don’t have an ambition to be the face – my main focus is to look after my studios.
IGN: Do you have a distinct philosophy you’re bringing to your role?
Shuhei Yoshida: Because I worked closely with Phil for quite a long time we are very complementary with how we look at projects. I have always been more looking at the nuts and bolts, but Phil was more about the bigger picture and the core concept. It has been quite great to be working on the same project that I see from one side Phil would see from the other side. In a sense, I continue to trade on my strengths. I hope there won’t be major changes because I feel it’s working very well.
IGN: I was speaking to someone from Naughty Dog, and he was saying it was like a big family. So is it your job to be a father figure and look after all these studios?
Shuhei Yoshida: We really make efforts to make people feel like they are part of the larger resources and there is lots of talent in the studios and technology groups that we have. In the past – and up to the PS2 days – most of the teams were working in isolation. That worked okay because each engine had to be customised for the game. Because [working on] the PS3 is such a large undertaking it just doesn’t make sense for each team to make every nut and bolt. We have really made a conscious effort to encourage sharing and we have underlying technology that we share with all these studios. And we have a set-up so the different studios can meet up and openly talk about things. I think that’s kind of created this view of family.
IGN: Obviously you’ve got a really good team of studios. Are you on the lookout for other studios to acquire?
Shuhei Yoshida: We have acquired a few as you know. We always approach the acquisition not in the way that some other publishers do – some successfully, some unsuccessfully. We always start with trying to build strong relations and IPs together and after the successful completion of a few games we might sit down and talk about acquisition.
I totally believe it’s not just one person that makes a successful franchise – it takes lots of people’s efforts because it’s a difficult process and you really have to have to chemistry to work together, because development doesn’t go like this [makes a smooth gesture with hands] it goes like this [starts throwing shapes]. Unless we have the underlying trust between the team and the publishing side we’d find it really hard. We are always open about changing our relations with other developers but we always take this process step by step.
IGN: In terms of the big games coming out this Christmas – LittleBigPlanet aside – they’re all sequels. When can we expect to see some new IP from Sony?
Shuhei Yoshida: Not this year, next year. We started to show very small sections of it – you know yesterday we showed Heavy Rain. And we announced we’re working on God of War 3 and a game called MAG. We have some other titles that we’re not allowed to talk about.
IGN: Going back to LittleBigPlanet, is it going to be a difficult title to get people to understand it?
Shuhei Yoshida: We are totally focussed on making it successful from worldwide marketing. From a company standpoint we totally believe in the premise that it brings to the table – not just for the game but for the future and where we’re heading. It is just going to take a concerted effort from all parts of the company. So from a marketing standpoint it’s going to be huge campaign that you’ll see.
IGN: Can we expect more of the like of LittleBigPlanet from Sony in the future?
Shuhei Yoshida: I’m sure some other teams are taking on that idea of giving power to consumers.
IGN: Some teams have been particularly quiet – when can we expect to see what’s being produced by Team Ico?
Shuhei Yoshida: Soon. I used to call them Olympic Team, because they always spend four years on their games. Ico started in 1997 and we saw that in 2001, Shadow was released in 2005. So it’s an Olympic cycle.
IGN: So the next one’s in 2009?
Shuhei Yoshida: I’m hoping for them to keep the Olympic cycle. That would be nice. Ueda-san is such a perfectionist and he decides when he’s ready to show it. So I keep asking, ‘When are you ready?’
IGN: Where do you see the PlayStation 3 in its life cycle now?
Shuhei Yoshida: Oh, it’s like the second year. I totally believe what Jack Tretton was saying at E3, we are just scratching the surface. Especially the third party developers, they are just starting to get their heads around it, so they’re now feeling comfortable about working on the platform. Look at the potential, like we were talking about Uncharted using 40% of the power [of the PlayStation 3] and that’s totally true.
Initially, when a new platform comes out, the focus tends to be on the graphics side, but after that you really want the game to behave differently, to be more smart and more interesting, and that takes longer. That’s when the strength of the CPU really helps by being able to handle lots of computations, and that’s still to be seen. Developers have had a couple of years to get the look, so the next target will be the feel of the games, and that’s still happening.
IGN: Do you think we can expect to still see visual leaps from the PlayStation 3?
Shuhei Yoshida: The improvement will be very steady and progressive. Speak to the Insomniac guys, they are releasing their third game and they’ll tell you feel there is a lot more that they can do.
IGN: You obviously had a vision for the PS3 over its 10-year life cycle. Is it where you expected it to be now?
Shuhei Yoshida: This year, yes, but last year we weren’t so sure. Last year we were very concerned about things that were not happening that should have been happening. But this year we are feeling very comfortable about the way that third parties are working with PS3, the value from having not just games but video capabilities and the way we are able to offer additional services. We are feeling very comfortable now, but we know that we have a lot of work to do.
IGN: Do you see PlayStation Network as an important part of the PS3’s future?
Shuhei Yoshida: Yes, and not just for the PlayStation 3 but it’s important for the future of the industry. It’s a progressive shift from a retailer based business, so it won’t happen in a year or two.
Different developers are trying different angles, like [Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty] from Insomniac. They’ve really shown how it can be done, by not changing the engine necessarily but by creating an episode – and that’s much more efficient in creating additional content. But other games like LittleBigPlanet are making use of the Network for people to share content. With SingStar it’s a stage for expressing yourself to people of the world. It must be very exciting for a kid to sing and show what they’ve performed to all these other people.
IGN: Episodic content is looking increasingly important with the likes of the new Siren – is this something we’re going to see more of?
Shuhei Yoshida: What we have now are broader options to give our content to users, so that helps us handle many different titles and to work with many different types of developer. In the past we only had disc media, and the medium has certain requirements – volume, content or price point – but now with Network distribution we have much more variety with what we can do. So that really helps us not to be thinking in a narrow confined way of approaching content.
IGN: So what’s going on with the PSP?
Shuhei Yoshida: This year the big title was God of War, there’s Buzz and next Spring we’ll be releasing Resistance. We’ve been consistently leveraging our existing franchises but creating unique content for the PSP, customising how the game works in terms of interface. That’s been working for us very well. We have many more games that we haven’t announced for next year. What we’d like to see more is for third parties also – there is so much great IP that they have.
IGN: It’s a shame that the PSP is often neglected as a gaming console…
Shuhei Yoshida: Yeah, it’s really, really disappointing and it’s a lost opportunity for the third parties. They should look at what the PSP can do for their titles and the potential for the business that their IP has.
IGN: How can Sony convince third parties to develop for the PSP?
Shuhei Yoshida: We have to show by examples. What’s happening in Japan is interesting – because of the massive success of Monster Hunter, Japanese publishers realise, ‘here’s a resource’. Lots of people are playing PSP in groups of fours and when you go to Japan it’s hard to find a train or a bar where you don’t see some people playing a PSP. So other publishers in Japan are seeing these consumers, and thinking, ‘Wow, we can make games for those consumers’.
And this is a usage that really sits well with the PSP. The most recent example is the Phantasy Star game from SEGA, and it’s really catching on. Some of these will come over to US and Europe, and hopefully other third parties will start thinking about the PSP in the same way.
IGN: Is social gaming something that’s quite important to the PlayStation 3 as well?
Shuhei Yoshida: It’s important to PS3, and it has been massive on PS2 as you know. Nintendo Wii’s success is really helping that, as is the success of music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero – they’re bringing in these people, creating the style of playing games with your parents, and that continues to be important for the success of the PS3 as well.
IGN: Do you look to the Wii as an inspiration at all?
Shuhei Yoshida: Absolutely. They are bringing in people that have never played games before, who never have tried picking up a controller. After they’ve played a Wii and played some of the games, some of those consumers might try something else. I’m really interested to try and convince those consumers to stay with us.
IGN: There’s talk of a PlayStation motion controller…
Shuhei Yoshida: [Picks up Sixaxis] We already have one!
IGN: But are you looking at a more dedicated motion controller?
Shuhei Yoshida: [The Sixaxis] is very unique in what it can do. It’s not just the motions, but it’s a way to interact with games which is really important to us to create a new experience. And that was what we’ve been doing with the EyeToy camera, the SingStar mic and the Buzz controller. We always look for a new way to give users interaction with games.
IGN: As such, would a dedicated motion controller work with the PlayStation 3?
Shuhei Yoshida: That’s a possibility…
