PlayStation confirms that Shuhei Yoshida will be leaving next year

Key things

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 like to continue working in the games industry after he leaves PlayStation.
When asked why he was retiring now, Yoshida explained that he felt his time had come now that PlayStation was in “really good hands”.

When it comes to the bigwigs of the video game industry, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who's actually likable and relatable these days, as the big companies are increasingly profit-hungry and money-hungry. Even Xbox's Phil Spencer, once hailed as the “guy” of gaming, has seen its stock drop drastically in recent years thanks to layoffs by Microsoft and the handling of studios under companies like Tango Gameworks.

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

PlayStation confirms that Shuhei Yoshida will be leaving next year

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

“I have an announcement to make. I'm leaving Sony Interactive Entertainment on January 15, 2025… it's like announcing the release date of a new game, [something] I haven't done that in a long time.”

When asked what led to Yoshida's decision, he explained that he felt it was “time for me to move on” as he reached 30 years with the company and that “new generations of management that I respect and admire” were coming up. He ends by saying that he believes PlayStation is in “really good hands” and that he's “excited about the future” of the platform, so he's now happy to make the most of his career with the company.

It's sad to see him go when he's been such a big part of PlayStation for so long, but it looks like we may still see him in some capacity. When asked on Twitter if this was an announcement of his full retirement, Yoshida replied that he would still “like to stay in the business,” though his next job seems to be up in the air at this point. It'll probably have something to do with indie games for all I know. We wish you the best, Yoshida.