Sony's Shuhei Yoshida Says Nintendo Provides Balance In An Industry Obsessed With Military Shooters

he is so right.

I feel like sony wants to buy nintendo lol

anyway Everyone at sony loves nintendo & its good cause if companies are friendly, idk it might make fan-boys shut-up

It's nice that he actually realizes what he has locked himself into and shows a little regret. Unlike EA who are happy to microtransaction everything and move with the times despite any roots they once had. Clearly some AAA developers need to keep producing these types of titles to keep afloat, so it's great that Nintendo can satisfy the other 90% of genres

I like him a lot. He's always polite and warm towards Nintendo. He knows competition is healthy and the fact he enjoys Nintendo games is great too. Only wish others would follow his example!

Nintendo uses colors for everything, even shooters. Nice to see Yoshida considering Nintendo as a complementary part of gaming, and not an enemy they need to destroy or humiliate.

@Sleepingmudkip If anything, I think fanboys hate this kind of thing. Gives them less reason to hate. Just look at IGN, king site of fanboys. When ever this type of article is published, they go rioting! They will never learn, never change, never disappear.

That's cool that he mentioned Splatoon by name, shows that he actually pays attention to the industry vice being strictly a suit and tie type of guy.

Yeah seeing so many military shooter is so saturated and boring now. Even games that once doesn't had military in them is now starting to have them, games like Batman and Resident Evil comes to mind.

@Sleepingmudkip

It's Sony, I'm sure most Japanese have a soft spot for Nintendo,......sure, the Playstation grew out of Kyoto's slip up, but Yoshida probably was also rocking a Famicom back in the day.

Actually if I'm not mistaken he currently owns two Wii U's......

lol now that's right! That's something that their fanboys won't even think of lol!

He is sooooo right about the industry being obsessed with military shooters! Shuhei Yoshida is an amazing person who I really respect. It's a pity Sony fans are so ignorant nowadays.

Microsoft sit firmly in their American style shooter/M rated realism, Nintendo in their Japanese kid friendly creativity. Sony straddles the two world and will happily follow the money.

I think after E3, Yoshida can tell that even though the FPS won't die out any time soon, he can feel a wind change where consumers want something a little different as well (I know I would favour the PS4 over the XB1 if they finally get something other than shoot face stab games). Expect Sony to innovate by pinching from Nintendo's best ideas.

@retro_player_22 Don't know what the issue with the Arkham games are, since they are pretty much based on the modern version of Batman, which is a dark character anyway. The Batman games have a darker, more muted artstyle, but that's pretty much all modern Batman media(the Dark Knight movies were like the Arkham games in that regard and even the Batman Animated series was darker and more muted than the later Superman and Justice League cartoons in the same universe.)

Plus, Batman never touches a gun in any of the Arkham games, so I don't see the problem. I consider Batman a pretty good break from the countless FPS games on the market. Plus, the Arkham games are one of the few titles that encourage the player to use all of Batman's tools, rather than simply brute forcing your way through the game.

Now, with a fourth game coming, the Arkham games aren't a fresh as they were in 2009, but they are still some of the best single player games on the market today.

@Sleepingmudkip Man, looks like I'm not the only one who thinks that.

I think MOST people in the industry have a soft spot for Nintendo. It's what makes it frustrating when fans go crazy every time any criticism is thrown their way, crying conspiracy. I have quite a few friends in the industry, and none of them are working on Wii U games because it doesn't make much financial sense, but they all love Nintendo games.

Yoshida seems like a nice guy. I like that. This kind of thing is good to see and makes a nice change!

Nintendo games are colorful. They should stay that way. Some PS games are too, like LBP. I have been thinking about a BC PS3 for LBP tho.

i agree, there are too mnay millitary FPS Games, and even moar COD Fanboys

What's that saying about friends and enemies? I think that's applicable here.

Something worth mentioning is that the new head of the Microsoft Xbox division, Phil Spencer, is actually the same way. He has praised Nintendo a lot.

@Daisaku36 The enemy of my enemy is my friend?

@DakotaM47 Dont get a backwards compatible ps3. they are AWEFUL. hardware is prone to the same issues the original 360 had (red ring style). Go with a ps3 slim and a ps2, it may be cheaper too.

Sony to the competition:
East: Your doing good. You may wanna touch up on this or that as we have to as well but keep doing what your doing. (gives sack of sweet mochi)

West: We are better! You all suck! Nah! I'm just kidding. Here, something as an apology. (gives a sack of active dynamite)

Sums up PlayStation's attitude. One is respect worthy and the other is pathetic.

Yeah we have enough realistic shooters someone has to do something to really shake the formula.

@Swiket What Sony JAPAN is doing is not pathetic. They are actually respectable Its what Sony WEST is doing that is pathetic to its competition. Re-read my comment.

Nothing wrong with military shooters, nothing wrong with dark games, or with brutal games either or shooters/action in general.
When those are the only games on the shelf though, if everything else is considered, cheap, immature, childs' play, etc. then things have gone wrong. If a company can only turn a profit, when it caters to the audience of those games, and henceforth sticks to making only such games, and the industry at large falls in line ... than things have gone terribly wrong.
I think that is the most crucial reason we need Nintendo. Nintendo is defying the image of videogames as it is so often painted by other media, they keep the industry diversified, a reminder that there is broad spectrum of experiences to be had, and that a lot of things can be fun and joyfull.
They remind the industry that money can be made without going all-out CoD, Halo or anything like it. That's why we need them, that's why the industry needs them to succeed. It's keeping the larger structure honest, it keeps the public opinion balanced and sometimes, as with the Wii, it creates a wave of healthy and creative chaos.
To me it is not about sympathy or nostalgia or anti-mainstream, it is about a company following a different road to success, thereby proving there is more than one, I fear else everything would get stale rather quickly, there is after all only so much indie games by themselves can accomplish. Yes, the industry needs Nintendo to succeed, not to dominate but to stay viable.

Rio 2014 ... it was beautiful!

yep everyone in the gaming world thinks they are gi joe or in the army these days

@Daruncic But I need to try out Dragon Quest 7 and finish 8.

Little Big Planet is trash. And whenever Sony tries to appeal to the broad audience it reeks of boardroom meeting desperation.

Yoshida-san is a traditional Japanese businessman, one who not only understands his competition but also acknowledges why people might buy or prefer their products.
More so than anything else, he is a very honorable man. Like the Ghibli masters, he would rather lose his job than his humility and his dignity.
In example, when Goro Miyazaki finished From Up On Poppy Hill, he asked that, should the film be received as poorly as he believed Tales From Earthsea was received, he not be given another chance.
It's not a lack of confidence. It's a sense of reaching, ever higher, knowing that one will always fall short of perfection and that that's a good thing.
Perfection is life's greatest impossibility, things can always be better.
But also, as a businessman to not be too hard on yourself.

If one were to question that statement, wondering if Goro has even a shred of his father's heart or head, you probably haven't watched From Up On Poppy Hill.

I like Yoshida. The guy seems level headed, and it's like he actually holds a passion for gaming.

The games on Sony's platforms are dictated by the market though> it seems like Yoshida would love to go back to the PS2 days of light-hearted, fun titles, unfortunately the market has shifted and the vast majority of modern gamers don't want that sort of thing. It's why Nintendo has become less and less popular lately. Most gamers nowadays have a policy of "No shooting, no cursing, no f***ing...? No purchase"

I never did like Little Big Planet. And this 3rd one in particular looks to be less than mediocre. BUT, I'll give em props for at least trying to keep a diverse lineup. Sony has their strengths and weaknesses, just like Nintendo. Playstation isn't exactly the go-to platform for those kinds of games, just like Nintendo isn't the go-to platform for gritty realism. And that's ok. Each platform has their strong points. Playstation might not offer what Nintendo does so well, but, it's good for the M-rated AAA scene. When it comes to those games, Playstation is THE go-to platform.

@Peach64 What you're saying makes no jobs of sense.

Fight the sheep! Death to carbon-copy, military shooters.

Like Nintendo during the 80s and 90s, I hope games like LBP, Pushmo and Minecraft don't just entertain but open doors for the next generation of game designers. Not simple consumerism and audience but authentic, creative ambition. The UbiArt engine is just one example of inspiration amidst the banality of trend worship. Even in Ubisoft there's Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, Far Cry and it's nice to see diversity.
Heck, Call of Duty, Spiderman and Skylanders are all out from the same guys.
Now only if we saw more originality and more departure.

With all Sonys money problems I cant imagine any scenario where anyone at Sony could even begin to consider buying Nintendo.

If however Iwata called them up and said Nintendo wanted to stop producing home consoles and make home games on Sony hardware I dont think anybody at Sony would hang up on him.

@ModestFan93
How so? Nintendo and its games are some of the most respected and liked in the industry's history. Many developers have cited them as as an inspiration, heck Sonic was directly inspired by playing Super Mario Bros.

Business is business though as they say, and in an industry where one failed project can sink your company it shouldn't be surprising that even those that love Nintendo dearly won't risk their own livelyhood supporting them. If they went under doing so, would Nintendo send them a check?

I like how nice he is towards his competitors. Cool guy.

He's a good guy..... I wonder how he feels about the Order: 1886?

And...Microsoft was trying to market Nintendo's customers in line, at the Nintendo Experience 2013, to try to sell the Xbox One, which will probably be a failure. I bet the Xbox line will fall soon.

@Sleepingmudkip More like Sony wants to sell its gaming division to Nintendo ... who can actually afford to purchase it.

Glad that they are at least offering words of encouragement to Nintendo.

Great comment from Yoshida. He's know games have more to offer than first person and third person shooters. And obviously Nintendo does too. This is the main reason I enjoy both Nintendo's and Sony's consoles so much. They offer an incredible variety of games to choose from.

@Gamecubii-64DD

MS has a boatload of money, has shown the willingness to spend it this gen, just turned the division over to a guy in Phil Spencer who has an actual passion for the industry and the CEO of the company just came out and said MS is fully behind the Xbox line... so good luck with seeing it go away. I know a lot of people here would love to see Sony and MS both disappear. You may get your wish on Sony, MS is in it for the long haul. If it didn't quit after the original Xbox, it sure won't now.

Having a boatful of money doesn't mean it is intelligent to throw it away. Xbox existence has more to do with shareholders than any CEO. Xbox has been bleeding money and some investors are fed up. They want MS to concentrate more on other things other than violent games.
Recently Bill Gates reiterated that selling Xbox was not totally out of the question. I rather take his words onboard than the fanboys who think MS and xbox will last forever.

"Having no intention to sell" is not the same as "We definitely won't sell". I should know, I hear it all the time in my business.

Well, first of all, I'm about as far from an Xbox fanboy as you'll find, but that's besides the point. If MS has been willing to stick it out this long, I'm not going to count on it disappearing any time soon. It could leave and if it does, well sucks for me because I believe in the theory that the more competition the better and I'm not as big a fan of what Nintendo provides these days as I used to be, but I won't lose sleep over it. Just saying I wouldn't be counting on MS to go away. Also, it's an unfair generalization to say all Xbox has is 'violent' games, but I'm not going to get into that because here at NLife, if it isn't Nintendo it's trash.

Anything is better than the bland M$ machine, and Sony has always been my 2nd choice for great first party games. However, if Nintendo were able to secure rights to Sly Cooper I might not ever need another Sony system in my life. I love what the PS4 is becoming, but I'm not exactly chomping at the bit for it like I was for my Wii U and 3DS/3DSXL.

Every time I see something like this it always makes me sad that Nintendo and Sony didn't go it together. If they did, maybe we could be looking at Nintendo and Sony vs. Microsoft and Sega.

I keep hoping that, one of these days, these two companies (Sony and Nintendo) will hammer out a better deal and take the industry to new heights together, but for now that is just a perfect video game dream of mine. Maybe we could get a WiiPS... what, it beats the Pii US name that I also had... XD

I would love to invite some friends to play with my Pii US. XD

Yoshida, seen here keeping things classy.

This guy has helped ease my extreme loathing of Sony to general dislike to light hatred. Good for him. Not from just these comments, but from previous comments he has made.

@Gamer83 Hey! I completely respect Sony and Microsoft! I own a PS4 and Xbox One - they are laid side by side with my Wii U like soul mates. It's just their fans are snobby and biased towards Nintendo which I really dislike!

@JosieC84

The same can be said about Nintendo fans and their attitudes towards the PS4 and X1.

It's interesting to see that Yoshida is aware of the current situation, but can't/won't change much by now. Even though Sony doesn't really support the shooter outrage, they allowed it to grow too far into the PS3's library, which has created a certain dependency of those very titles. Now their audience is heavily limited, and kids hardly get any proper games on Sony platforms anymore (LBP3 might be the only good one), Sony needs to decide what they want to do: gaming for everyone with a risk of losses to change the direction, or keep the current 'safe route' which denies them and developers some flexibility.

@Hernandez Oh yeah! It could make history just from it's name.

@Kaze_Memaryu I don't see shooters as a problem on the Playstation platforms. Yes, the PS3 and PS4 both get their yearly Call of Duty installments and Battlefield every couple of years, but the shooter market has started to dry up over the last couple of years. Major titles like Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and Dead Space 3 flopped, Resistance is a dead brand at this point, and the only FPS titles that are still making any kind of money are Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo, and Killzone, and even those have waned in popularity compared to previous games in those series.

This is why Call of Duty's popularity did not bother me, because the "me-too" copy cat FPS games that flooded the market would eventually flop and die out, just like all the GTA clones during the 6th generation and the mascot with an attitude platformers during the 16-bit era.

I've never felt Sony has ever been dependent on shooter games. Yeah, they have Killzone, but they also have other titles that cover a wide array of genres. Not to mention, out of the big three are pretty much the home console of JRPGs, quirky Japanese games, and countless other games.

Of course they make money off of the yearly Call of Duty, but its not the dependence that Microsoft seems to have. If Call of Duty every flops, I think Microsoft would be hurt the worst.

Sony still had JRPG fans, sports game fans(they are the only system with an MLB game right now) and fans of other games in general that may not be FPS fans who will still buy a Playstation.

Microsoft is the one that will be hurt the most if the FPS bubble bursts. They are dependent on Call of Duty, Battlefield, Gears of War, and Halo to sell their consoles. Besides Forza, what is there on the Xbox that is a major title that does not involve guns? And even the multiplats are simply better on Sony's platforms.

Sony and Nintendo are fine, since they have invested in a wide array of games for their platforms. Microsoft on the other hand may not be so lucky...

@Sleepingmudkip You mean Nintendo buying the playstation brand? I don't know if this financial standing is still accurate, but IIRC Nintendo is wealthier than Sony.

@JaxonH I wouldn't say that Sony is all about M rated AAA shooters. I like Sony almost as much as I do Nintendo, and it has nothing to do with the shooters. They make a lot of games that are for all ages, as well. Sly Cooper, my personal favorite Sony exclusive franchise, is a great example of that.

If one company bought the other it wouldn't be a buy out, probably a merger between them. It's nice to see rivals not constantly poking each other

looks at Apple and Samsung

@VIIIAxel I feel the same way about Sony. They're like my "Nintendo away from Nintendo", with fun and vibrant series on par with most Nintendo franchises. My favourite series which started on PlayStation include Spyro the Dragon, LittleBigPlanet and Ratchet & Clank, although I also don't mind the PSone Crash Bandicoot games either, amongst others. I've been meaning to try the Sly Cooper series but have only played a tiny bit of a demo version, though I'd definitely like to give it a proper go.

This article is the proof that Sony and Nintendo never meant to cause that stupid console war that is destrying the internet. Are fans that have become total idiots, what a shame.

@GamerZack7 I actually recently got into Ratchet and Clank, and I've been loving it so far! Crash Bandicoot's another one of my childhood favorites, specifically the third. It's really irritating when people act like Sony's all about these gritty, gory games, when they've actually made quite a few light-hearted and imaginative games as well.

@VIIIAxel I agree completely. Both Nintendo and Sony offer a wealth of family entertainment on their respective consoles, and it's nice to know that their most highly-ranked CEOs are on good terms with each other and not behaving like schoolchildren.

Anyone old enough to be an active contributor to the industry, probably grew up with Nintendo.

It's only more recent generations where people hate Nintendo, ironically for being 'too kid-friendly'. Their argument often still comes from making Mortal Kombat less bloody... Which happened like... 21 years ago if I'm not mistaken? Many of the kids hating Nintendo for this weren't even old enough to play ANY game back then, let alone Mortal Kombat (the game that brought us age-ratings, to begin with).

Let's see what else there is... Oh yeah, 'bad graphics'. An argument that should never come from someone who grew up with the classics.

In the past generations of gaming, I often thought of the mature rated games as being plain... Childish. We didn't have realistic military shooters, my brother and I collected materials, made toy swords, bows and guns, and we WERE soldiers. Not literally, but at least I have some real scars to show for it One of which right between the eyes.

Well for me its Sony and Nintendo from here on out. Shame I never picked up a Sony console until the ps4, I know I would have got more out of a ps3 than my 360 last gen

@Gamer83 Hahaha I was expecting you to say that and I respect and agree with your judgement up to a point.
Yes! Nintendo have fans that say horrible things about the PS4 and Xbox One but they are NOWHERE NEAR as bad as what Sony and Microsoft fans say about Nintendo.

Also Nintendo has been around in the gaming industry for more than 30 years so of course there are going to be faithfully loyal fans that don't care about the other two.

I've been doing quite a bit of research into this, looking at websites like this, IGN, GameSpot, Wii U Daily etc.
Nintendo gamers are open minded to other consoles.
From what I've seen, I don't see as many Nintendo fans saying "PS4 sucks" or "Xbox One sucks" than Sony and Microsoft fans saying "Wii U is a kiddie console". I've been seeing alot of Nintendo fans saying "I might plan to get an Xbox One/PS4 in the future"

Did you know Nintendo were first founded in 1889 as a playing card company? Amazing how they have survived and advanced for this long.

@yuwarite Hilarious, Little Big Planet is amazing and is what Nintendo missed the boat on with "Mario Maker" what a shame people think LBP is bad when its an amazing creation tool

@Sleepingmudkip "I feel like sony wants to buy nintendo lol"

Interesting concept. Someone will probably get bought sooner or later. Though it seems Nintendo is the only one with cash.

@JosieC84

I'm 31, I've been gaming for a while and grew up on Nintendo consoles, I also know plenty about the company's history. That doesn't change what I stated. The majority of PS4 sucks comments, that I've seen, come from the Nintendo fanboys, a few come from the MS crowd. Fans on all sides are equally close minded dbags. The last time I remember things being tolerable was the 8-bit era and honestly I was too young to really make a call on how bad things were then, but I imagine not bad since NES was really the only game in town. The 16-bit era it was a friendly rivalry, my friends and I all had our preferences but we could play games on SNES, Genesis, even TG16 and be happy as long as the game was good. Things got bad around the 32-bit era. Nintendo fans are pissed Sony came in and stomped all over their turf and still haven't gotten over the butthurt even though Wii outsold the PS3 easily last generation. It is absolutely pathetic. And so no mistake is made here, I think it is equally pathetic when the Sony and MS slaves say Nintendo provide nothing but kiddie games. All 3 groups are a joke, none is better than the other and the gaming industry would be better off if they'd all learn to shut up and just enjoy what they have. But that will never happen. People would rather argue over nonsense.

@Sleepingmudkip Nintendo are doing way better than Sony financially right now, it's more likely to be the other way around lol

@Caryslan I guess you have a point there. The FPS wave is as good as gone, but the one-sided popularity is rising, and many non-japanese developers still take the simple formula of quick success as good game design in every way.

But yeah, it was a bit quick of me to generalize onto FPS.

As someone who absolutely can't stand the CODs and Metal Gears of the world, I couldn't agree more.

@PvtOttobot Yeahhh, 90% of all genres, like platformers and uhhh.... party games? I guess that's 90%?

@Shambo So you're trashing people who think Nintendo games are kiddy, but then you go on to say M rated games are childish. I mean you're just as ignorant, except on the opposite side. :I
And no, anyone old enough to be ''an active contributor to the industry'' didn't have to grow up with Nintendo. There's this platform called PC, which is what I grew up with.

@Uppercut I said -with less words- that I found many recent M-rated games to feel very forced to get that M-rating, so much so that it feels more childish than it does feel mature.

And cool down a bit will you, I'm not 'trashing' anyone. I didn't even say they ALL grew up with Nintendo. But since this article makes me think of the whole 'console wars' BS, I DID talk about console gamers. Don't take stuff so personal that you go in personal offense, it's really not doing any good to anyone.

Seems like you are reading too much into his comments... He didn't say Nintendo provided balance...

I wonder if he'd make similar comments if the PS4 wasn't doing as well as the Wii U?

@MrGawain I don't see the first person shooter dominance changing...ever. The world became much more violent and cynical over the last decade or so, as these types of games (and other realistic violent games) rose to prominence in the industry. I think these types of games are a reflection of our times. I believe the video game industry innocence started dying the day Grand Theft Auto 3 hit store shelves. As the world seems to grow more cold, cynical and violent, I can't see the bright and colorful fun days of the 90s video game landscape making a return as the dominate style of games. I think it's sad. As a 31 year old man, I'm in the extreme minority when I bring up that I would love to see these types of games dominate again. Maybe it's the fact that regardless of what goes on in my life or the world, I make sure to protect the inner child self. I'm a kid at heart, and nothing or no one will change that. That's why I preferred Nintendo's E3 showing this year over Sony and Xbox. It was about having fun! Not realistic, violent, CGI filled trailers. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some of that stuff, but I'm more about having fun...wonderment...escapism when I play games, most of the time.

The most ironic thing about this situation is that most video game systems are being sold in the markets where derivative shooters thrive. So whatever Yoshida says (and I agree with him, mind you) about shooters is counter to Sony's business plan. The Japanese are not stepping up to save home consoles in their home market.

@Gamer83 D:

@outsider83
I have no doubt fps and the M rated bandwagon will continue as the dominant genre in gaming for some time, but I think with the advent of the next gen console, a lot of players expected a re-invention of the wheel and it isn't going to happen with the shooter- it's an inherently limited structure. But by expanding the variety of genres on these systems, they can make it seem like there is something new to kids who have only played COD or Halo+ entice younger kids and us Nintendo fand. I expect Both the PS4 and XB1 E3 2015 conferences to add a few different genres with some less realistic art styles, colour, and a bit of humour (a'la Nintendo) to make it seem these black boxes are somehow revolutionary. Variety is good for business as it makes sure the consumer doesn't get bored and watch tv, read a book, or go out and fly a kite instead.

@Gamer83 I totally agree! It is VERY indeed pathetic that all three fan groups can't respect each other. The PS2-Xbox-GameCube era weren't too bad but it's the Xbox 360-PS3-Wii generation when things started to become really serious. Console wars is really silly.

No, there's no balance here. Nintendo is high up on it's side of the scale, practically alone, and the opposite side is through the floor. Sad days for the industry.

Nintendo fans are very narrow minded people just like xbox fans. Like xbox fans are obssessed with fps, nintendo fans are obssessed with anything but fps and are determined to hate them. You cant say that this fps "fad" is going to go away, cause its not. There is a curtain balance if people would see it. Nintendo owns the more kid friendly happy casual games while xbox owns the m-rated multiplayer based shooting games. And playstation is a nice middle. Dont knock the other fanbase because you are a hater for anything but what you love. Appreciate all genres even if one is a lot more popular than the others right now. Some of us are open minded and own 2 completely different consoles so that we can show our love for all genres (rant over)