Shuhei Yoshida says Sony and Nintendo should ‘keep the current generation as long as possible’ as Xbox goes next-gen
“People are very happy using PS5 and Switch 2” but it’s Xbox’s “time to play”, he says
Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida says he thinks Sony and Nintendo should try to keep the current generation of hardware going for as long as possible.
In an interview with The Verge, Yoshida was asked about Xbox‘s recent messaging that it’s going to look into new business models for its next-gen Project Helix console, and whether he felt this might lead to a phone subscription model where players pay $200 a year for the hardware and Xbox Live.
“Well, $200 a year might not be enough, right?” Yoshida replied. “If it’s over $1,000 [for the] hardware price, and it basically comes with the services, maybe $300 a year or $400 a year. A $50 a month subscription, how’s that?”
Yoshida added that while Xbox may feel the need to press ahead with its next-gen plans because of its ongoing overhaul and the Xbox Series X/S continuing to trail behind PS5, he doesn’t think Sony and Nintendo should be so quick to make the jump to new hardware.
“While Sony and Nintendo have sold enough numbers of current generation hardware, because of the cost of goods they might be looking [at] pushing back the launch of next gen,” he explained.
“And I think they should try to keep the current generation as long as possible, because I think people are very happy using PS5 and Switch 2.
“People have finite budget, and it feels like PC and consoles, the components very specific to these devices have increased the price way more than all the other forms of entertainment. People who have systems like PS5, Switch 2 or good enough PCs, probably will be happy to play games on them, and not necessarily consider replacing them.”
Yoshida said he didn’t think players are necessarily looking for more powerful hardware yet, and developers don’t appear to need it either, so he doesn’t think there’s a need to rush a next-gen console.
“I, for myself, I have a gaming PC for work, that I purchased five years ago, that was pretty good. And while I was thinking to replace my gaming PC, this price hike happened, so I was late to replace it. I wish I had made that decision a year ago. So I think that kind of thinking will happen to many people.
“I don’t think lots of people are asking for ‘more power, we need more power’. Or even developers, I don’t think developers are asking ‘we need better hardware’, or [anything] like that. So I think that means that the current generation, Sony and Nintendo, are going to do pretty well for many years to come, still.”
He added that he understands the situation is different for Xbox, who may be in more of a rush to move onto the next generation, given its plans to not only release more powerful hardware, but a device that can also run PC games and changes the way players access the Xbox ecosystem as a whole.
“Xbox is a team who wants to change the competing landscape,” he said, “so it’s going to be hard for them, but it’s their time to play. So it’s very exciting, you know, what’s going to happen next year.”
