Sony Does Not Consider Nintendo a Global Competitor, Says Former PlayStation Exec Shuhei Yoshida
Sony does not see Nintendo as a competitor—at least not on a global scale. The situation is different in Japan, which is considered a unique market. This statement comes from Shuhei Yoshida, a former long-standing PlayStation executive who, although retired, remains very active on social media.
Yoshida made this observation during an episode of the Kit & Krysta Podcast, hosted by two prominent figures among Nintendo fans.
Yoshida’s Insight on Nintendo
Let’s examine what Yoshida actually said:
“Inside Sony, even when they do like a business analysis, Nintendo doesn’t show up, even though there’s competition in market share between PlayStation and Xbox. They don’t include Nintendo, not that they’re ignoring Nintendo, but they do not necessarily feel Nintendo is a competition because Nintendo is covering a different audience. But except for one market: Japan. In Japan, Nintendo is hugely strong, and Xbox almost doesn’t exist. So PlayStation people working in Japan see Nintendo clearly as competition.”
Currently, there is also much to consider regarding the competition between Sony and Microsoft, especially as Xbox continues to evolve into a multi-platform publisher, focusing more on the overall market than exclusively on its own platform.
On a global scale, Sony remains strong with excellent sales of its consoles (PS4 and PS5), which parallel those of the Nintendo Switch. It remains to be seen whether the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 will attract the core audience that typically prefers Sony’s consoles.
