TGS: Interview - Sony's Yoshida 'Very Happy' With Move, Less So With Delays

At Tokyo Game Show, Gamasutra spoke to the Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's Worldwide Studios organization, about the freshly-launched Move, its approach to Japanese-developed content, and why The Last Guardian is taking so long.

[Chris399]

TGS started with a bang, but is quickly turning into a whimper. (DMC/ Twilight reboot ftl)

[Game-ur]

I was underwhelmed by Sony in TGS, most games we know about, and presented a lot of multiplatform games, its lame when MS do it, still lame when Sony do it.

Yoshida talked about Ms spending on Japanese games. They are all Kinect games, but from MS track record I suspect it's only to get people in, and then Microsoft will abandon support like they abandoned their initial RPG push.

[Chris399]

I was one of the consumers who "jumped in", back when Sony's machine was struggling with the genre. Haven't had anything since Magna Carta 2 (that was exclusive), and that game was terribly average.

[akiraburn]

I wouldn't say I was underwhelmed, but I felt there was definitely something significant left to be desired. The way I see it, the Ico/SOTC remake collection was one of the largest and most long sought after announcements. Seeing more of The Last Guardian, as well as the first trailers for Yakuza: Of The End was really nifty as well. And Ni No Kuni looks wonderful. Not to mention they really were showing a strong lot for their PSP lineup (Valkyria Chronicles 3, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix, Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday, White Knight Chronicles, Yakuza, etc).

But while there were some announcements and finally released gameplay footage, it didn't quite match up to the past several shows. Between Gamescom, E3, and even Comic-con, a lot of really impressive stuff was shown off and a lot of really awesome surprises came about, so I think that a lot of us expected more to come from this showing, considering it's one of the top three largest gaming expos each year. A lot of us (including myself) were expecting to hear something on some of the other rumored software, firmware, and even hardware.

For me, I personally was hoping for something from the rumor that was spreading about Kojima Productions having a new exclusive and/or doing a MGS remake collection and/or the long sought MGS4: (Existence) Director's Cut, as well as announcements for other games from other companies, like Dark Cloud 3, a new/remake of Legend of the Dragoon, an official Demons Souls 2, and in general more content from SCEJ and Japan Studio.

Although it was a long shot, I was also hoping they would detail some new features about upcoming firmwares and the new functions, as well as the long-shot of further Home integration with the XMB. Not to mention, I was really anticipating a PSP2 reveal (considering Japan is their strongest market for the PSP), as well as wondering if there would be a possible mention about the new patent that everyone seems to be talking about (the PS2 to PS3 or PS3 to PS4 backward compatibility device).

Anyway, I don't think it was a bad showing by any means, but I do think that after having such good showings prior to this, that everyone was expecting a bit more from this TGS. And yeah, DMC/Twilight reboot is 'teh suck'. At least we get Disgaea 4 though.

[Kain81]

couldn´t said it better

Edit: I epected some JRPGs, there were several Rumors before TGS like,
Wild Arms dev working on a Large scale RPG
Dark Cloud 3
Skies of Arcadia
Star Ocean 5
Suikoden Game
Kojima game (ZOE3)
Valkyrie Profile
Deamons Souls
Tale Of (next)
and many many more rumors

It was a BIG DISAPOINTMENT

What i saw was Westernized JP Games...look DMC
and i saw CRAPCOM with their new FUTURE pay for Prologs and Epilogs DLC shit for Things that should be on DISK

[akiraburn]

@Kain, thanks man. You hit all the other titles I was thinking of but missed mentioning. You know, downloadable content in this generation is a double edged sword. I know it's been discussed to death, but I like to throw in my two cents here and there on topics like this...

On the one hand, developers can expand a game to great new lengths, create more story and/or capabilities, provide amazing new things, and it's possible to make these either cheap or even free. On the other hand, you also are allowing the more "corporate" type of developers and publishers to have the capability to omit features, content, and even the option to not provide a complete story, because they can make even more money by offering it as downloadable content.

As consumers, essentially we're the moderators for this, because as a whole, if we invest in this poorly, we will see overpriced boring downloadable content, which you may need just to play the entire story of a game. Personally, I think that sucks. However, when properly used, DLC can bring a game to whole new levels, such as in LittleBigPlanet, where they added functionality like "The Paintenator" paintball gun and all the health based objects, as well as actual water and swimming. They were cheap additions that both gave you the new tools, as well as more gameplay levels and trophies. There are a lot more great examples of this, but really I just wanted to accentuate my point on this.

Anyway, /rant. I agree and think a lot of people are pretty disappointed with Capcom's choices of recent, as well as certain other developers/publishers who aren't really listening to the fans.

[Christopher]

So, an article title based on what the author thinks Yoshida feels, in regards to delays?

Anyway, it's always good to hear them talk more about inter-company communication and sharing of technology, even between America, Europe, and Japanese development teams.

And I think after seeing the results of the games coming out of all territories for the PS3, the extra time they take tends to pay off in the end.

[Kain81]

here is his twitter, you can post him what you want, i have done this already^^
http://twitter.com/yosp

[jack_burt0n]

Sony need a management shakeup in Japan, Its all good and well having projects take 6years but you make sure in the middle of the cycle that platform defining game engines are getting used for different things.

The whole of sony need to learn this, uncharted technology should be making the next syphon filter, demons souls 2 should be using TLG technology and resources.

GT5 technology although it sounds crazy should be leaking into TM, whats the point in owning multiple 1st party studios developing their own powerhouse tech!?!

Make a 1st person RPG in Japan with guerilla technology!?!

They need to bring harrison back as global liason lol.

[Stealth20k]

Disgaea 4
The another world
tales ps3
ff 13 versus

big ps3 exclusive jrpgs

[zetsuei1]

This is not nearly enough from a generation that was used to tons of QUALITY (AAA) RPG's like we had in PS2 or PSOne. Hell even PSP has more RPG's nowadays.

I want something XENOGEARS level NOW!!!!

[raztad]

I'm kinda sorry for you guys. J-RPG on home consoles passed its prime. As Japan moves more and more toward mobile devices, makes sense Japanesse RPG devels cater that market the more. At the same time, it is clear, save some big titles like FF, the west is not that much into JRPG to justify many AAA budgets. Sadly this is a gen of shooters.

[Stealth20k]

Monotlith is owned by nintendo now and they just came up with xenoblade which should get localized earlyish next year

[Greek God]

Disgaea 4 is more than enough for me
i still play Disgaea 3

[Ravage27]

but raztad is right :/

i'm going to enjoy it while it last though...

[Nathaniel_Drake]

great interview

[Crystallis]

This is a good read and great interview. I do agree that the Japanese development on games takes way to long. But its hard to complain about it when your getting the best high quality exclusive games this generation such as The last guardian and GT5.

[DanteKnightsTemplar]

hit the spot for me.