Sony’s PlayStation 5 console is soon turning five years old this year, and discussions on its successor are already underway, with former PlayStation veteran and SIE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida sharing his opinions on how the PS6 must do something different, apart from improved graphics, to stand out from its competitors.
Speaking on Skill Up’s Friends Per Second podcast, Yoshida discussed how the various console giants like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are handling the strategies with their latest consoles, and how PlayStation in particular needs to do something different to succeed.
“PlayStation is the most interesting thing because Moore’s Law has matured, so you don’t get as much benefit,” he said, “Graphics have almost hit the level that even I cannot tell the difference between some of the graphics capabilities, like ray-traced or not ray-traced, unless it’s side-by-side.”
“PlayStation can’t do the same thing they have been doing, increasing the graphics power and providing the high-end experiences,” he added, “They might just do that, but still, that feels like a niche audience right now.”
Although Yoshida remained adamant that he had “zero information” about Sony’s PS6 plans, he noted that the company is now being led by a new generation of executives, which can potentially lead it in a brand new direction.
“Up until Jim Ryan, it’s always been our generation, the first generation of PlayStation leading the company,” he explained. “Now [Hideaki Nishino] and [Hermen Hulst] are a much younger generation, so they can do something disruptive, they don’t have to follow what [the company has] been doing. It’s super interesting, their next step.”
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
