To Lead The Indie Initiative Or To Leave Sony, That Was The Question For Shuhei Yoshida

PlayStation legend Shuhei Yoshida’s last job before leaving the company after three decades of tenure was as Head of Independent Developer Initiative. Although this position has helped him build relationships with various indie developers, where he helped them achieve better goals, the industry veteran said he had no other choice than to take this role. 

“Moving from first-party to indies? Well, I had no choice,” Yoshida told VentureBeat what happened back in 2019 when he stepped down from President of SIE Worldwide Studios. “When Jim asked me to do the indie job, the choice was to do that or leave the company. But I felt very strongly about the state of PlayStation and indies. I really wanted to do this. I believed I could do something unique for that purpose.”

Compared with leaving the company this January, Yoshida said taking charge of indies was actually a “bigger change” for him. His reputation and experiences of working on many best-selling games, including SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs, Jak and Daxter, and Twisted Metal: Black, were a great help for independent developers. He reckoned, “I’m very lucky that the indie community, the publishers and developers I work closely with, they believed that they could use my help.”

Yoshida’s efforts to help grow the indie community and increase its influence included internal communication, especially with those who newly joined PlayStation, to spread the importance of supporting indie titles. He has a deep belief that indie games “create the future.” Outside of the company, he aimed to “make things better” for indie developers and publishers. 

Obviously, the career path that Yoshida was assigned didn’t end with his departure from the company. Even after leaving Sony, Yoshida is still not “retired,” as he plans to continue working with some indie publishers and developers as an advisor. Soon after his last day at Sony, he announced his first video game voice role in an upcoming open-world crime game titled Promise Mascot Agency.