The launch of the PlayStation 4 is just around the corner and Games Industry has published a massive interview with Shuhei Yoshida. Today's interview had the President of Sony's Worldwide Studios discussing their competition with Microsoft, and why gamers should choose the PS4 this holiday season. Yoshida began by stating that this year's E3 had been the company's best since the release of the original PlayStation. He also seemed very positive about Microsoft's recent policy changes.
We know they're very smart people. It's great that they were able to quickly realize that some of the things they were doing were not popular, and were able to make really quick decisions to change some of those things – even things that their engineering group must have spent a lot of time preparing before launch...It shows their dedication to making the Xbox One successful.
He remained humble by stating that he had never taken the competition lightly, especially in the US market. Yoshida mentioned that the European and Japanese markets were much easier to secure, partially because of the company's strong history. Speaking of history, Yoshida pointed out that many of those at key positions have been in the game since the PlayStation One's release. This has helped Sony form a tight-knit group who are able to communicate and share ideas with each other easily.
Since Microsoft's post-E3 backpeddling, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have become much more similar to each other. The biggest difference seemingly being the Kinect. Yoshida stated that, while the consoles are more similar now, the company's logic for why the PS4 is the clear choice, has not changed.
PS4 is really designed for consumers and focused on how people want to play games. At the same time, we've really made sure that it's hardware which game developers will enjoy making games on. We want consumers to look at how much fun it is to use this system, not just for playing games but for finding out about games and sharing the experience with other people.
He expressed how exciting it's been for indie developers to have shown such an interest in the PS4 and Vita. Yoshida stated that the new console is the most powerful one ever made and that the hardware is some of the easiest to use. He did finish this statement by taking one tiny jab at Microsoft, saying that somehow, they still managed to make a system that's $100 cheaper than the Xbox One.
The PlayStation 4 launches in North America on November 15th, a week before the Xbox One's November 22nd release date. Both systems are expected to sell exceptionally well this season, so it'll be interesting to see whether the PS4 comes out on top after this holiday.
For more news, reviews, interviews and features, head to Game On's Facebook page or follow us on Twitter. Will Holden has also launched on Twitter, to mixed results.
