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Sony's Yoshida isn't sure why PS4 is selling so well, what to do about it

In a frank admission even from a man known for his candidness, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida admits "we do not completely understand what's happening" with PS4.

Christian Nutt, Contributor

August 19, 2014

1 Min Read
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"But I for one am a bit nervous because we do not completely understand what's happening. You need to understand why your products are selling well so you can plan for the future, right? It defied the conventional thinking."

- Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida The PlayStation 4 has sold through 10 million units of hardware to consumers in the nine months since it was first released to the marketplace. That's actually got Sony a bit spooked, says Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida: "As soon as we see a great sales number, our instinct tells us we should be concerned about future sales, right? Are we exhausting all the core gamers?" That comes from a new interview with Eurogamer, Yoshida says the company is coming to terms with who the PS4 audience is -- particularly those purchasers who skipped the PlayStation 3 or the prior generation altogether. "So we want to understand who are these consumers who we do not necessarily consider core gamers, who are purchasing PS4 and why they are doing it and what they are doing with PS4, so we can create a bit more of a positive future, rather than saying, wow, we have sold to every single core gamer. So that's what we are doing," Yoshida says. He also noted that Ubisoft's Watch Dogs PlayStation 4 version outsold the PS3 version -- pointing to a predictably healthy uptake of the system with triple-A-loving core gamers. Sony knows that this audience is on board; now, says Yoshida, the trick is meeting the challenge of appealing to other audiences.

About the Author

Christian Nutt

Contributor

Christian Nutt is the former Blog Director of Gamasutra. Prior to joining the Gamasutra team in 2007, he contributed to numerous video game publications such as GamesRadar, Electronic Gaming Monthly, The Official Xbox Magazine, GameSpy and more.

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