Shuhei Yoshida (吉田 修平, Yoshida Shuhei; born February 11, 1964) is a Japanese businessman and experienced professional in the gaming industry. He served as the President of SIE Worldwide Studios for Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) from 2008 to 2019. From 2019 until his retirement in 2025, he led PlayStation Indies. Yoshida has been an important part of the PlayStation brand since its beginning, working for the company since 1993.
In 2023, he was honored with the BAFTA Fellowship at the 19th British Academy Games Awards for his contributions to the gaming industry.
Sony Interactive Entertainment
He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the school of economics at Kyoto University. There, he worked with a team focused on company plans and helped manage the PC business. Yoshida joined Sony Corporation in April 1986.
Later, he earned an MBA degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1993.
Yoshida joined Sony in 1986 as part of a team focused on company plans, where he helped manage their PC business. He was among the first people to work on the PlayStation project in February 1993 and was the first person on the team who was not a technical worker. He was the main person responsible for managing deals in Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s third-party licensing program.
From the mid-1990s until 2000, Yoshida worked as a producer on PlayStation games, including Gran Turismo, Ape Escape, and The Legend of Dragoon. In April 2000, he became Vice President at Sony Computer Entertainment America. In February 2007, he became Senior Vice President at SCE Worldwide Studios USA. In May 2008, he was promoted to President of SCE Worldwide Studios.
In November 2013, Yoshida appeared in the official PlayStation 4 unboxing video.
On November 7, 2019, Sony announced that Yoshida had left his role as President of SIE Worldwide Studios during a company reorganization. He joined a new program focused on helping outside independent creators develop new and unexpected gaming experiences. This program later became known as PlayStation Indies. He was replaced by Hermen Hulst, who previously led Guerrilla Games.
Yoshida retired from SIE on January 15, 2025, after working for the company for more than thirty years. He later said in an interview that Jim Ryan, then CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, gave him a choice in 2019 to work with indie games or leave Sony.
During his time at Sony, Yoshida used Twitter to promote indie games. He also appears as a playable character in Super Time Force Ultra, where he can shoot tweets and heart symbols from his in-game smartphone.