Sony Should Reconsider Cutting Edge Graphics Pursuit, Says Shuhei Yoshida

PlayStation legend Shuhei Yoshida, the former President of SIE Worldwide Studios who worked with the company for over thirty years, has shown care for its strategy even after leaving last year. Recently, he suggested that PlayStation should reconsider its focus on cutting-edge graphics.

Speaking with AV Watch (and translated by Genki_JPN), Yoshida said that values, including "cutting-edge graphics," have been driving PS' DNA since Kutaragi-san's (former Chairman and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment) time, and that's also what the users expect from PS games.

However, this is something to relook at and reconsider, he said. While it's also important to offer games with the "very best" graphics quality to players who fancy it, "in order to continue to be popular with users in a broad sense, we naturally have to change our way of thinking."

Yoshida didn't go further on how the way of thinking could be changed. But speaking of popularity with users, it naturally reminds me of Astro Bot, which secured GOTY last year. Its story shows that the pursuit of fun gameplay could actually help break out and reach broader audiences. Therefore, for some games, cutting-edge graphics could be an addition, not a must. 

During this interview, Yoshida also talked about the growing length of AAA open-world action RPGs, which raised users' expectations and "haunts" developers in turn.

In earlier interviews, the renowned industry veteran also shared the backstory of how Sony missed the chance to publish the beloved Dark Souls because its publishing strategy for Demon's Souls had disappointed FromSoftware, the situation he faced before taking the role of the Head of Independent Developer Initiative, and how he managed to push Sony to bring more first-party games to PC.