Shuhei Yoshida Discusses BAFTA, Breaking Conventions, and Expanding PlayStation to Indies

For Shuhei Yoshida, the most significant moment in his career was the release of Journey, a game that had a profound impact on players and left a lasting impression. As the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment's Independent Developer Initiative, Yoshida has spent decades working with indie studios, and Journey remains his favorite game among all the ones he has worked on. Yoshida is set to receive the Fellowship award at the BAFTA video game awards, a recognition of his decades-long career and his efforts in supporting independent developers. He feels a mix of emotions about receiving the award, as he is used to attending these events to celebrate the nominees and winners, not to receive an award himself. Yoshida is hopeful that the indie game Stray will win some awards, but he emphasizes that being nominated is already a significant achievement for any indie studio. He believes that the industry has undergone significant changes, particularly in terms of game development, which has become more democratized with the availability of free tools like Unity and Unreal. The democratisation of development has brought in fresh perspectives, and Yoshida urges industry veterans to remain open to new ideas and approaches. He notes that the third-party relations team at PlayStation has a global network of account managers who work closely with game developers to identify exciting new games and promote them on the platform. Despite the progress made, Yoshida acknowledges that indie developers still face significant challenges, particularly in terms of discoverability. He believes that digital storefronts need to evolve to better surface games that appeal to individual gamers, and that subscription services can play a role in making indie games more prominent. Yoshida is pleased to see companies supporting developers from diverse backgrounds and is committed to continuing PlayStation's efforts to support and fund developers from a wide range of backgrounds. He hopes to see the trend of supporting diversity and inclusivity in the gaming industry continue, and believes that the opportunity for video games to diversify and represent a broader range of creators has never been greater. Ultimately, Yoshida's goal is to see games from different regions and cultures become more successful in the global market, and he believes that the industry is already moving in this direction. He cites the example of the game A Space For The Unbound, which is based in Indonesia in the 1980s and has a universal theme that can be enjoyed by anyone.