Sony Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida On Master Accounts, PS4, Wii U And More
Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida discusses about the change of direction for Sony, PS4 and a little bit of Wii U.
PlayStation 4 has been a long project having almost five years to complete. The final console is close from 80 percent to 90 percent of Sony's original functionality aims. The latest upgrade is outstripping the past PlayStation launches. Because of this, Sony feels positive about the future of PS4 against early comments of analysts that consoles no longer have a place in this generation.
Part of the reason the launch does not include an MP3 is because Sony currently focuses on games and if the lack of MP3 support is the worst element of the PS4, then the console must be in a good position. Changing the PSN name is complicated and problematic so it still can't be changed. Yoshida explained that the original system does not work just like an Excel spreadsheet. It still keeps looking into it because it's not impossible, just not designed that way.
PlayStation 4 is flexible and future-proof as it can reserve memory. Sony believes that GDDR5 is not needed for next-gen performance and the decision for an 8GB memory is big because of the costs. It's great with games and system software, and it leaves room in the GPU, CPU and memory for future features. Sony also feels that the inability of sub-accounts to become master accounts is unfair and it is still looking into possible solutions.
Sony was complacent during the PS3 era and after going through a difficult time launching PS3. It's learned a lot, catching up with features. It is backed with a challenger mentality. In the past, Sony had a bigger idea, with VCRs having a 40 percent install base and video games having a much smaller install base. Back in PS1, Sony simply took cues from other companies and it was just similar to how the approach the launch of PS4.
Yoshida enjoys playing the Wii U with his daughters but doesn't know what Nintendo's goal with the Wii U is. He finds it confusing why Nintendo seems not to focus on the Wii U to induct non-players like how they did in their past consoles. The "for core gamers" was confusing and good thing, Nintendo has now improved its messaging to get its point across. "Success depends on how you set your goal," Yoshida said.
He thinks Nintendo and Apple both induct non-players into gaming so iPads or tablets don't necessarily hurt Nintendo. PlayStation doesn't really fit into that group because Sony believes non-touch controllers are great.
Source: YouTube.com/IGN