Learning From the BAFTA Award Winner Shuhei Yoshida, God of War Ragnarok Could Have Costed PlayStation $200 Million

Shuhei Yoshida is one of the pillars of Sony’s PlayStation. Back in 1993, Yoshida joined the company as a business developer. He was the only team member who didn’t have an engineering background, yet his contribution to the team quickly became indispensable. His long years and contributions won him the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship award. 

Yoshida has been a curial member of the development teams behind titles like Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo, and many more. In a recent conversation, the veteran shared some of his priceless insights about the state of the modern gaming industry and how huge the scales have become, where AAA games like God of War Ragnarok could take almost $200m to produce. 

Shuhei Yoshida gives his insights on modern PlayStation 5 games like God of War and more

Recently, in a lengthy interview with The Guardian, Yoshida shared and talked about the years he has spent in the industry, and all the amazing experiences he had. Receiving the BAFTA award, Yoshida shared how odd he felt because before him, this award was presented to giant personalities such as Hideo Kojima and Shigeru Miyamoto, who are renowned creators in the Gaming industry.

“The people who have received this award before are all creators! Amazing, talented, genius people!… But everybody says I deserve it, so I guess I deserve it.” said Yoshida. As the conversation continued, Shuhei Yoshida talked about the modern gaming scene. He shared that as the games are improving every single day, the making costs behind them are also reaching colossal levels. 

Yoshida states that God Of War III was an expensive game to be made in its time. Yet its $44 million production cost is nowhere near the alleged $200 million cost of PlayStation 5’s recent exclusive, God Of War: Ragnarok. 

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Yoshida shares thoughts on Indie games

However, on the other side of the spectrum, Yoshida also praises the Indie devs who are making amazing works of art in a tight budget. “Getting games funded is tough, but even when you make an amazing game, there are so many out there in the market, great games that nobody knows,” said Yoshida. “The good thing is, these days, there are really good high-quality indie publishers out there. When I was in São Paolo last year, there were scouts from Devolver, Curve Digital, Team17, all trying to find the talent from these places,”

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In the end, Yoshida shared that the industry will keep on growing. But as long as people will respect good quality content and creative ideas, the art of gaming will keep on evolving, no matter the cost.