PlayStation confirms that Shuhei Yoshida will leave next year

Key takeaways

Shuhei Yoshida has announced that he will be leaving PlayStation on January 15, 2025, ending his 31-year career with the company.
Yoshida later clarified that this is not a retirement announcement, and that he would still like to work in the games industry after leaving PlayStation.

When it comes to the bigwigs of the video game industry, you'll struggle to find anything actually likable and relatable these days, as big companies become more profit-driven and money-driven. Even Xbox's Phil Spencer, once hailed as gaming's “nice guy,” has seen his stock drop drastically in recent years, thanks to layoffs from Microsoft and the treatment of studios under the company like Tango Gameworks.

Fortunately, we have some great bosses that the majority of people love, and PlayStation's Shuhei Yoshida is one of them, a man so passionate about indie games that he became the head of the Indies Initiative for PlayStation. He's been there for 31 years and is synonymous with the brand as a result, but he now appears to be calling it a day.

PlayStation confirms Shuhei Yoshida is leaving next year

In a new blog post on the PlayStation website discussing his career, Yoshida makes his big announcement, revealing that he will be leaving Sony Interactie Entertainment and PlayStation on January 15 of next year.

“I have an announcement to make. I will be leaving Sony Interactive Entertainment on January 15th, 2025… it's like announcing the release date of a new game.”

It's sad to see him go when he's been such a big part of PlayStation for so long, but it seems we may still see him in some capacity. Asked on Twitter if this was an announcement of his full retirement, Yoshida responded saying that he still “likes to stay in the business”, although his next job seems to be up in the air at the moment. It will probably have something to do with indie games, knowing him.