São Paulo, May 1, 2025 – One of the most memorable moments of the gamescom latam 2025 program took place this Thursday (May 1) with the participation of Shuhei Yoshida, a gaming industry icon and recipient of the event’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In the panel titled “A Life in Games: From PlayStation to the Future of Indies,” Yoshida shared personal memories from his career, behind-the-scenes stories of major Sony franchises, and his current mission supporting the indie games ecosystem.
The conversation was moderated by Dean Takahashi, lead writer at VentureBeat, and followed by an attentive audience eager to hear from the man behind milestones such as Uncharted, The Last of Us, and the PlayStation 2, 3, and 4 generations. Yoshida joined Sony in 1986 and went on to lead Worldwide Studios, becoming one of the most respected figures in video game history.
“I’m living a fantastic life thanks to interactions with people on the internet,” Yoshida joked, recalling that his first game was one he created with pencils in school—before he even had a console at home. “My friends would play it with me, and that’s where my passion for creating games began.”
In recent years at PlayStation, Yoshida shifted his focus toward the indie ecosystem. “I spent my last five years at PlayStation scouting for great indie games. That has always been the essence of the company. But over time, the focus shifted. So I made it my mission to replant that idea internally. My goal was to make the position I held unnecessary — and that’s exactly what happened.”
He also addressed the surge in investment during the pandemic and its subsequent decline: “Five years ago, during COVID, the gaming industry thrived. Companies invested heavily expecting a permanent trend — but two years ago, that scenario collapsed,” he explained. “I see it as a market correction after poorly directed investments in a fragile moment.”
