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Recently, Shuhei Yoshida received the BAFTA fellowship for all his years in game development. This gaming industry titan has been the mind behind the success of Sony’s PlayStation Studios. Starting off his career at Sony, he has remained with the company ever since. He also served as the President of PlayStation Studios.

Now working as the Head of the Independent Developer Initiative at Sony, he has taken the role of guiding developers to achieve excellence. Recently, Yoshida opened up about his experiences as the President, explaining not all ideas went without a hitch.

Gaming legend talks about his failures unknown to fans

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Recipient of multiple Game of the Year awards, Yoshida talked with The Guardian about his failures. He said, “PlayStation embraces new ideas, and many of them fail.” Yoshida shared there have been multiple instances where the team developed a prototype, sent it for evaluation, and he stopped it from further development.

He had to make these hard decisions as the President to save the studio’s time and resources. Convincing the development team to leave the project was also a challenging task. “I usually try to convince the developer that I’m trying to save them from getting stuck with this project,” said Yoshida.

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While working as the President, he was heavily involved in the entire life cycle of the games developed. He expressed he loved working with these inspired people and would not have it any other way.

Shuhei Yoshida holds an indie game in great regards

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He was especially proud of the 2012 game Journey published by Sony. Yoshida watched its indie makers, Thatgamecompany, closely and commended their hard work. “When that game received all its game-of-the-year awards – not just the best indie game, but the best game, against all these AAA titles, it started something,” he said. “It had such impact on the people who played.”

He considers the game to be a highlight of his career. Talking about the game, he said while the game was small it had a deep meaning. The game’s main theme was circling around life and death, which can be a touching topic for many people. He mentioned people who had lost someone close, especially felt a connection to the game.

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What are your thoughts on the career of Shuhei Yoshida? Do you think he had a successful career? Let us know in the comment section below.