Shuhei Yoshida, former president of Worldwide Studios for Sony Interactive Entertainment, has revealed that Nintendo and Xbox each orchestrated the two scariest moments of his long career at PlayStation.
Yoshida told MinnMax that the release of the Xbox 360 one year before the PlayStation 3 was “very, very scary,” as those who considered waiting for Sony’s console would be well behind in tasting the next generation of video games.
But Yoshida said “the biggest shock I had from an announcement from the competition” was when Nintendo announced that Monster Hunter 4 was going to be a 3DS exclusive. “That was the biggest shock,” he said.
Monster Hunter 4 launched exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS in 2013. Ultimate launched a year later.Monster Hunter was a colossal hit on the PlayStation Portable, to the point where it had two exclusive games, but Yoshida had no idea Nintendo had secured this new game for its own console. To make matters worse, it then slashed the price of the 3DS by $100, putting it well below the PlayStation Vita.
“After launch, both Nintendo 3DS and Vita were $250 but they dropped $100,” Yoshida said. “I was like, ‘Oh my god’. And [then they] announced the biggest game… The biggest game on PSP was Monster Hunter. And that game is going to come out on Nintendo 3DS exclusively. I was like, ‘Oh no.’ That was the biggest shock.”
Yoshida retired in January after more than three decades with Sony, where he became a face of the PlayStation brand and was beloved by fans worldwide. His no longer being with the company has allowed Yoshida to share some previously unheard insight such as this, however.
Yoshida has also said how he’d have tried to resist Sony’s embattled live service push and even given his two cents on why it won’t make a remake or sequel to cult classic Bloodborne.
Photo by Stuart Wilson/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
