Former PlayStation exec says Sony has “huge respect” for Nintendo, but hopes Nintendo fans might “graduate to more mature systems” like PlayStation

Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida, a self-described Nintendo fan, has been talking a lot about the company since he departed Sony awhile back. We’ve heard a ton of insight from the man about the inner-workings of Sony, his personal thoughts on Nintendo and more. Now he’s back once again with a little behind-closed-doors information on how Sony views Nintendo.

Yoshida popped in on an episode of the Kit & Krysta Podcast to talk about a multitude of things, and one portion of the convo focused on how Sony actually feels about Nintendo. According to Yoshida, Sony has a great respect for what Nintendo does, but they also want to see Nintendo’s players graduate to “mature” systems like PlayStation.

“Nintendo is bringing a younger audience into gaming, and some of them when they grow up, might graduate into more mature systems like PlayStation or Xbox. Of course, they have huge respect for what Nintendo does in terms of how Nintendo should be doing in the industry. We all felt like it’s great to have Nintendo to continue to be successful so that we can continue to grow the industry.”

[Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida]

Mature can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. If we’re purely talking about M-rated games, we know that Nintendo platforms have played host to such titles for decades now. If we’re talking about Nintendo themselves making “mature” games, that all depends on what the word “mature” means to you. It’s a debate that’s gone on for years and remains nothing but cyclical, which makes it all the more disappointing to hear the higher-ups at Sony continue to engage in it.