The annual BitSummit indie game festival in Kyoto is more than an opportunity for people to get together to play new games. It's also an opportunity for independent creators to connect with some of the industry's leading figures. And one of those figures was Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studios and the head of the PlayStation maker's game development efforts.
We caught up with him after he addressed the crowd to talk to him about the success of the PlayStation 4, the market for the PlayStation Vita, and what must happen to help Japanese indies succeed.
Even Yoshida was surprised when the PS4 raced to an early lead last year. Yet even as it moved in big numbers abroad, it was slow to catch on in Japan, despite launching three months later to allow for a stronger launch lineup. A year later, it's consistently the best-selling console in Japan. So what changed?
"When you look at the games that came out in February and afterwards this year, there are many Japanese games," he said. "The popular Japanese franchises are finally starting to come out on PS4, so that's the biggest change. And when you look at the announcements during E3, like Square Enix announcing three new PS4 titles, it's amazing."
If that's the case, I asked, did Sony release the PlayStation 4 too soon at home?
