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Shuhei Yoshida, Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios president, shared his thoughts on Death Stranding, the games industry in Asia, next generation possibilities, and cloud gaming in an interview with Dengeki Online (via DualShockers).
Yoshida has played a little bit of Death Stranding, about 10 hours to be approximate, but his experience implied that the game is the start of something big. ‘It still feels like it’s only starting,’ he said, ‘Other people were there and would try the game simultaneously, including director Kojima, who showed me tons of ways to use Sam’s tools I didn’t think of myself.’ He seems to be referring to the strand system that connects Death Stranding players, and lets them leave ladders and bridges behind to help each other.
I would err on the side of assuming that ‘simultaneously’ just means a row of people playing the game at the same time at Kojima Productions, and not that the Sony president’s managed to spill the beans on online multiplayer features. Yoshida added that he was very impressed with the story of Death Stranding. ‘I’d compare the story to a really well done Netflix original series. It feels like I reached only half of that series, and there are still many possibilities for what could happen next,’ he explained.
He had been warned that the game will make players ‘definitely cry when reaching the second half’ of its storyline, echoing Norman Reedus’ claim that the game will get people ‘emotionally invested’ in the world. It seems someone’s cutting onions in the studio, because Yoshida said he’d been warned by developers and debuggers alike.
In addition, he spoke about the games present at Tokyo Game Show that were developed by studios outside of Japan, and commended Genshin Impact by the Chinese company MiHoYo. Yoshida will sing the praises of PSVR at any opportunity, but in this interview he said that he hopes that the next generation PS5 would encourage developers to create new ways to play. He was also struck by the resourcefulness of Sucker Punch Productions which has enabled Ghost of Tsushima to be compatible for the PS4 and PS5, and still look just as good.
As a final note, Yoshida said he feels that it will take some time before players are comfortable with cloud gaming. He referred to PS Now that lets players try a game through streaming it, and if they enjoy it, most players will then purchase the game digitally rather than continuing to use PS Now.
Death Stranding launches on November 8 for the PlayStation 4, and then for PC at a later date. Watch Dengeki Online’s interview with Shuhei Yoshida below.
