“It’s time to move on” This key figure at PlayStation is leaving the company

Game news “It’s time to move on” This key figure at PlayStation is leaving the company

It's just goodbye

As Sony celebrates 30 years since the release of the very first PlayStation, we learn that after enjoying a slice of cake, Shuhei Yoshida will leave the group Japanese after 31 years of good and loyal service. “I will be leaving Sony Interactive Entertainment on January 15, 2025… it's like announcing the launch date of a new game, which I haven't done in a long time” he laughs in a message published on the PlayStation Blog. He adds that after all these years in the business, he told himself it was time “to move on”.

Is this a sign of excitement from PlayStation, which has experienced some disappointments in its first party branch and which has laid off many developers this year? Not at all, according to the main person concerned. “I love the PS5, I love the games that come out on this platform. And we have new generations of leaders that I respect and admire. I'm very excited for the future of PlayStation. You know, PlayStation is in very good hands” he explains, before adding: “I just told myself it was my time”.

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“A great defender of creators”

Players who are not necessarily interested in the leaders of the main manufacturers on the market have necessarily already seen Shuhei Yoshida. He is the one who, along with Adam Boyes, ridiculed Microsoft at E3 2013 with the famous clip “how to lend your games on PS4”, which came to torpedo the clumsy presentation of the Xbox One.

However, Yoshida is not just an agitator who participated in a video generating monstrous buzz, he is above all known for his commitment to game developers. After joining the PlayStation project in 1993, he became president of Sony Computer Entertainment (renamed Sony Interactive Entertainment) in 2008. Following the departure of Shawn Layden in 2019, we thought we would find him again as boss of Sony studios. It was ultimately Hermen Hulst the big winner, leaving Yoshida to take care of the independent studios.

On X, Phil Spencer, the head of gaming at Xbox, congratulates his “great career”. “You have always been a big advocate for the industry, creators and gamers” he writes.