Game Changers: Sony Computer Entertainment's Shuhei Yoshida in Conversation with Mark Cerny

Shuhei Yoshida is President of Worldwide Studios at Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE). He has been with SCE since its inception and has been an integral part of the development of the PlayStation® family. Yoshida has overseen several successful product launches and was responsible for creating SCE's internal product development team. He was an executive producer for Gran Turismo™, and produced ICO, Ape Escape™, and The Legend of Dragoon®, among other popular titles.

In March 2000, Yoshida moved to the US to oversee product development at Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). In May 2008, Yoshida was appointed President of Worldwide Studios and is responsible for all first-party game software development activities for PlayStation® platforms, including 14 studios across the US, Europe, and Japan. To open the week of the much anticipated PlayStation®4 (PS4™) launch, SCEA released an official unboxing video of a PS4™ starring Yoshida. Throughout the video you only see a dark figure with coffee-brown colored leather gloves unwrap the contents of the box. At the very end of the video, Yoshida appears telling the audience, "Greatness Awaits."

Mark Cerny, a true veteran of the video game industry for over 30 years, has worked as a game designer, programmer, and producer of arcade and console games in both the US and Japan. In 2008, with Yoshida's advice, SCE asked Cerny to lead the design of the next generation console, the top selling PS4™. Yoshida's instinct paid off. PS4™ delivered the best launch ever in PlayStation® history, selling over 4.2 million worldwide as of December 28, 2013.

We’re pleased to welcome Mark Cerny back to our stage, this time in the moderator’s seat. As a result of their decades-long partnership and experience in the gaming industry, this is sure to be a compelling, in-depth conversation about Yoshida's early life and career path to SCE, their work together, the evolution of gaming software and hardware, and the state of the industry. Please join us.

We are very pleased that KQED Radio will be taping this program for future broadcast.

This event is part of the Museum's acclaimed Revolutionaries speaker series, featuring renowned innovators, business and technology leaders, and authors in enthralling conversations often with leading journalists. Our audiences learn about the process of innovation, its risks and rewards, and failure that led to ultimate success.