Shuhei Yoshida, after fully departing from PlayStation, has asserted why he went from heading SIE Worldwide Studios to taking charge of indies. Turns out, he just couldn’t get behind Jim Ryan’s orders, stating he was “fired” from the role after he refused to do “ridiculous things.”
Talking during an ALT: Games Panel (via This Week in Videogames), Yoshida didn’t go too in depth about what exactly Ryan told him to do that led to him saying “No.” Ghost of Tsushima was among the last games he worked on within the first-party world.
I helped Santa Monica to make God of War, Naughty Dog to make Uncharted and The Last of Us, and Sucker Punch to make the beautiful Ghost of Tsushima. Ghost of Tsushima was one of the last games that I worked on as the president of Worldwide Studios. But in 2019, after 11 years leading the first-party development, I was fired from the role. Jim Ryan wanted to remove me from first-party because I didn’t listen to him. He asked to do some ridiculous things, and I said ‘No’.
Now, to be clear, he also enjoyed his role promoting and helping indie games get in PlayStation’s spotlight. He’s continuing to with his own venture after the last five years saw him still under Sony. Now, he’s offering the same services under Yosp Inc., his own consulting firm.
Meanwhile, Ryan has retired after 30 years at PlayStation back in 2024. This led to Hideaki Nishino and Hermen Hulst taking the reigns.
