Shuhei Yoshida: ‘I wish we were more successful on the multiplayer side as well’

Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, speaking today at Develop:Brighton said candidly that he wished the company was “more successful on the multiplayer side as well.” 

The answer came during this morning’s keynote chat, when Edge’s Nathan Brown asked Yoshida why Sony’s studios were becoming best known for their single-player titles, while the industry as a whole was moving more towards games-as-a-service type titles.

Yoshida then went on to talk about the reasons for the concentration on solo-play titles. Noting that “making games of any type nowadays is so difficult,” and that single-player games are the area in which the company’s first-party studios are most capable. 

He added that: “this is the area in which [our studios] have a chance to push this art forward,” and that teams had a duty to not just to “follow success in the market,” but also to “follow their hearts.”

It doesn’t seem like this is a deliberate strategy by Sony either: “It just so happens that we are fortunate to have these teams to push forward with these types of games.”

However, as we discussed recently, following Shaun Layden’s Gamelab talk, it’s at very least a fortuitous split for the company, as it allows Sony to concentrate on one type of game without entering in direct competition with its third-party partners.

"We’re not here to create games that steal market share from other publishers. Because we manage the platform, it’s not to steal pieces of the pie. It’s to grow the entire pie,” said Layden.

Shuhei Yoshida was speaking at Develop:Brighton ahead of receiving his Develop Legend award tomorrow at the Develop Awards. Read our full interview with him about his take on modern development.