Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida at the Tokyo Game Show “Understands” the Criticisms Leveled at No Man’s Sky
Just when you thought all of the controversy around No Man’s Sky was over, Shuhei Yoshida, the popular President of Sony’s Worldwide Studios has added his criticisms to the game. In an interview with Eurogamer at the Tokyo Game Show, Yoshida has said that he understands what has made players critical of the much hyped space survival exploration game, focusing particularly on Hello Games’ PR strategy.
“I understand some of the criticisms especially Sean Murray is getting, because he sounded like he was promising more features in the game from day one,” stated Yoshida. “It wasn’t a great PR strategy, because he didn’t have a PR person helping him, and in the end he is an indie developer. But he says their plan is to continue to develop No Man’s Sky features and such, and I’m looking forward to continuing to play the game.”
Yoshida also added that he had the chance to play No Man’s Sky before it launched, but restarted to play after the Day One patch was released. “I could see the struggle for the developers to get the game out in the state that they wanted,” he stated.
When asked if No Man’s Sky had hurt PlayStation’s brand at all, Yoshida took a more positive note.
“I am super happy with the game actually, and I’m amazed with the sales the game has gotten, so I’m not the right person to judge if it has ‘harmed’ the PlayStation brand. I personally don’t think so. If anything, I am proud that people can play No Man’s Sky on PS4 as well as PC.”
The much anticipated indie game has been embroiled in controversy over the last few weeks, with many fans demanding refunds due to misleading marketing, technical issues, and missing features. This has sparked a heated debate around digital refunds and whether consumers should or should not receive them. Regardless, No Man’s Sky is hardly the success story Sony had been hoping for.