Shuhei Yoshida, formerly the head of PlayStation Studios, has shared details about his move from leading all of PlayStation’s internal game development to now overseeing Sony’s independent games program.
At the ALT: Games festival in Australia, Naoki Yoshida explained that Jim Ryan dismissed him from his position because he refused to follow Ryan’s directions. Yoshida stated that Ryan requested him to do things he considered unreasonable, and he responded by declining.
Via This Week in Video Games, the full quote reads:
I played a key role in developing popular games like God of War (with Santa Monica Studio), Uncharted and The Last of Us (with Naughty Dog), and the visually stunning Ghost of Tsushima (with Sucker Punch). Ghost of Tsushima was the last game I oversaw as president of Worldwide Studios. However, in 2019, after leading first-party development for eleven years, I was let go. Jim Ryan wanted to shift direction and remove me from the position because I disagreed with some of his requests and refused to comply with what I considered unreasonable demands.
Hermen Hulst, formerly a leader at Guerrilla Games (the developers of Horizon), now heads PlayStation Studios, taking over from Shuhei Yoshida. Yoshida has since taken on a new role leading PlayStation’s independent games division, which he’s spoken positively about.
During the discussion, Yoshida reaffirmed his passion for supporting independent games, saying he really enjoyed promoting them. He’s now continuing this work with his consulting firm, Yosp Inc. He explained that after five years helping indie developers and publishers at Sony, he feels like he’s doing the same job, but as a freelancer.
Yoshida’s recent statements about moving from a leadership position to focus on independent games at PlayStation confirm earlier reports. He’d previously indicated he was essentially given a choice: take on the indie games role or leave the company.
Yoshida was given the role focusing on independent games because Jim Ryan knew how passionate he was about that area. Yoshida expressed his gratitude, saying he truly appreciates Ryan creating the position and suggesting he take on that work. He feels very thankful for Ryan’s support over the last four years and doesn’t have anything negative to say about him.
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2026-04-20 12:10