The Vergecast Shuhei Yoshida on the future of gaming
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Sep 28, 2026 
Shuhei Yoshida, a longtime Sony executive and champion of indie games, explores gaming’s uncertain future. He discusses AI-generated worlds, hidden AI tools in development, hybrid consoles and handheld PCs, PlayStation’s move to PC, VR’s uphill battle, cloud gaming economics, mobile controls, and the growing challenge from Chinese studios.
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AI Expands Gaming While Threatening Developer Livelihoods
- Digital distribution and accessible tools have expanded both the global audience and the population capable of making games.
- AI lowers the barrier further, but more creators may make earning a living harder for professional developers.
AI Characters Turn Conversations Into Gameplay
- Yoshida has played experimental games where players type or speak naturally and AI characters respond or generate the story.
- One licensed AI character service attracted so many users that it nearly shut down, but charged credits for longer conversations.
Indies Use AI Teams To Multiply Output
- An indie leader told Yoshida he manages eight AI agents and could potentially make a game alone.
- Other creators use AI programming to move from one release every few years toward two games annually, while also accelerating QA and localization.