Draugoth
Gold Member
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Yoshida says that when Jim Ryan offered him the job, “it was do this or leave the company”
Shuhei Yoshida is one of the most famous names at Sony, having led the company's main game studios for a long time. However, in 2019 the executive left the presidency of PlayStation Studios to lead the company's indie initiative.
Commenting on the matter now, Yoshida says he didn't have much choice in the matter. According to him, when CEO Jim Ryan presented this change, Yoshida could only accept or leave Sony.
Yoshida: Moving from first-party to indies? Well, I had no choice. When Jim asked me to do the indie job, the choice was to do that or leave the company. But I felt very strongly about the state of PlayStation and indies. I really wanted to do this. I believed I could do something unique for that purpose. That was the bigger change for me personally, moving from first-party to indies, than leaving the company this year. I’m very lucky that the indie community, the publishers and developers I work closely with–they believed that they could use my help. I became an adviser for some of these companies. I’m continuing to work with some of the indie publishers and developers I respect. The transition out of Sony to becoming an independent adviser is less of a change than moving out of first-party.
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