Sony is known for locating and promoting great talent in the video game industry, even in the face of financial loss.
During his panel at Gamelab in Barcelona (as cited by DualShockers ), Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida spoke about his company's commitment to giving motivated, highly creative developers a chance to shine.
He said that when all is said and done, "its the people" who create these amazing experiences, and it's the team that makes the technical and artistic breakthroughs. Does it always result in a money-maker for Sony? No. In fact, it often doesn't:
"It’s a hit-driven business. We look at our financial results of the titles, and probably three or four out of ten make money, and maybe one or two make all the money to cover the cost of the others titles. So we have to be able to maintain that hit ratio at a certain level to be able to continue in the business, so we always try to find out and support and help grow the talent. That’s the most important work that I believe myself and some of my management team at worldwide studios are doing."
After reading that, I've only got one question: Is it the same with Microsoft? Are they also willing to lose money on six or seven out of every ten titles released, just to promote that creativity and innovation? Well, based on the selection of games we've seen over the years from both manufacturers, I think I can answer that question easily enough…
