Why Trends Can Be Deadly for Indie Developers, According to Ex-Sony Boss Yoshida
Shuhei Yoshida has played a key role at Sony Interactive Entertainment for over two decades.
The former head of PlayStation Studios (then known as Sony Worldwide Studios) helped develop the major IPs in the PlayStation library today.
“I helped Santa Monica make God of War, Bad Dog to make Uncharted and The Last of Us, and Sucker Punch to make the beautiful Ghost of Tsushima,” he said at a recent ALT: GAMES event in Australia. He also added that he was fired from leading the company’s first team, which is funny to think about.
Sony Execs ‘Schmoozed’ Final Fantasy 7 Arrived on PS1 and Away from Rivals
According to Shuhei Yoshida, it took a lot of “schmoozing” to defeat Squaresoft.
“Jim Ryan wanted to remove me from the first team because I didn’t listen to him. “He asked to do ridiculous things, and I said ‘No.'” Although you could argue that Yoshida meant the comment in jest, Jim Ryan has been the main case behind Sony’s live service as of late.
Yoshida then transitioned to a role focused more on “growing independent foreign creators” before leaving the company in 2025. He founded his own communications company, Yosp Inc., which specializes in indie games. Here’s how he explains it:
I’ve been helping indie publishers and developers at Sony for the past five years, so I feel like I’m continuing to do the same kind of thing, but now I’m independent. I am free to appear on any podcast. Now I can talk about Nintendo, Xbox, Steam. And I can see how Nintendo and Xbox support indies. So it’s very, very cool.
Here’s Advice Yoshida Gives Indie Developers
Given his passion for indie games, combined with his knowledge and expertise in the industry, when someone like Shuhei Yoshida offers advice, he tends to listen.
He used his speech to do just that for budding indie developers, saying that if indie dev follows the trend, they’re already too late.
Instead, it’s important to stay ahead of those trends and try something new. Yoshida gave examples of trending indie highlights and got in touch with her.
-
The Journey Before Your Eyes, as they made him cry
-
Dead Cells and Nine Bells, as they felt good in his hands
-
Inscryption and Doki Doki Literature Club, as it was not what it seemed at first
-
Cult of the Lamb and Ball X Pit, as they did a great job of mixing genres
-
Viewfinder and Word Game, as they succeeded in making their own rules
-
Fall Guys and Marvel Snap, as you were able to hear other people as you played
Why No Bloodborne 2? Former PlayStation Exec Yoshida Has an Idea
Studio head Miyazaki “doesn’t want anyone else to touch it”.
Believe it or not, Yoshida had a crippling addiction to Marvel Snap. Thankfully, he’s already started the trend, but it goes to show how important it is for indie developers to go their own way.
In a way, it’s ironic that the game he was most addicted to was Marvel Snap, as it was led by another developer who left the big company to start an independent studio in Ben Brode.
Brode left Blizzard in 2018 and founded Second Meal with several other Blizzard developers. They will release Marvel Snap in 2022.
Vampire Crawlers: Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors Review
Vampire Crawlers is a card-based spin-off of Vampire Survivors with an incredibly addictive gameplay loop that leaves players begging for more.
