PS4 Exec: Industry Must do More Than Just the Same

Shuhei Yoshida, the head of Sony's worldwide games development studios, believes that the industry must strive to create more unique content instead of just repeating successful formulas.

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Yoshida said "the industry’s focus has narrowed too much. Can we continue producing interesting new products? That’s become a real concern."

According to sales monitor NPD, only two of the ten best selling games of 2014 in America were a new IP (Destiny and Watch Dogs), one a sci-fi first-person shooter and the other an open-world action title. Other games on that list include sequels to Madden, NBA, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto, Smash Bros, as well as ports of Minecraft, along with two different Call of Duty games.

While Sony does internally develop sequels and spin-offs of its own, it is also know to support unique games such as Journey, The Unfinished Swan, Puppeteer, and Heavy Rain.

In 2012, the company released Tokyo Jungle, an idiosyncratic animal survival game, which sold more than 231,000 copies.

The game's director, Yohei Kataoka said "if it wasn’t for Sony, there is no way I would be doing this now. It was like an angel investment, something unheard of in the games industry."