Guerrilla Games’ Hermen Hulst becoming the Head of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studio wasn’t the only major change that was announced today.
Shuhei Yoshida stepped away from the role, giving Hermen the chance to shine. So what exactly is Shu’s new position within the company? He will help ‘nuture’ and grow indie developers on the PlayStation platform.
Seeing as how you almost always see Shu promoting indie titles on his Twitter plus all the attention he gives them at gaming events, this move makes sense. Hopefully this will kill the ‘stigma’ that Sony doesn’t care about indies even though 75% of the PSVR catalogue of games/experiences are from indie devs.
Jim Ryan, CEO of PlayStation, spoke to Gamesindustry.biz about this major change within the PlayStation chain of leadership explaining that the new role for Shu will be about “celebrating external developers that are creating new and unexpected experiences.”
Jim continued:
Everybody knows just how passionate Shu is about independent games — they are lifeblood of the industry, making our content portfolio so special for our gamers. These wildly creative experiences deserve focus, and a champion like Shu at PlayStation who will ensure the entire SIE organization works together to better engage with independent developers through a culture of supporting and celebrating their contributions to PlayStation platforms.
This move, in my opinion, is an even bigger change than Hermen taking over as the Head of SIE WWS. Shu has that ‘knack’ of finding those little hidden nuggets of gaming joy that you can’t get enough between major AAA releases. This has to be a welcome move for any smaller devs who didn’t feel the love.
What do you think of these major moves, Brah?
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