Highlights
- Hideaki Nishino reiterated that his belief in the necessity of a games console remains unchanged.
- Nishino cited PlayStation Portal as an example of reinterpreting what a console experience can look like beyond the living room television.
- He also addressed PlayStation's recent decision to pull some first-party titles from PC.
Hideaki Nishino, who took on the dual role of President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2025, gave a notably direct defense of console gaming in a new interview with Famitsu. When asked about the role of consoles in an industry increasingly dominated by PC and mobile platforms, he said, "My belief that a game console is necessary for playing games remains unchanged."
Nishino Wants People to Rethink What “Console” Means
Nishino wants the gaming community to view consoles through a different lens. He said, "I think we can create something interesting by utilizing technologies that can be used in various forms and locations to develop new game console experiences.”
He pointed directly to the PlayStation Portal as the clearest example of that philosophy in practice. It is not a true home console like the PS5 or Xbox, but it reimagines what console gaming is supposed to be.
Nishino is effectively arguing that the definition of "console" should expand to include remote play devices, cloud streaming hardware, and presumably whatever comes next in that category. He also addressed Sony’s departure from PC gaming. He said that if releasing a PC title would maximize the gaming experience for players, the company would continue considering that. "Our current main policy is that, for single-player games developed in-house, we will further refine the value of the gaming experience that PlayStation can offer," he added. Sony wants to maintain its policy of in-house single-player games being exclusive to PlayStation.
Live-service titles are treated differently and will likely continue coming to PC. He added, "We believe it is important for live-service games to reach a wider audience through online multiplayer, so we continue to view releases on both PS5 and PC as the standard."
Sony wants to maintain PlayStation as a closed ecosystem where gamers come to play exclusives. Despite its strict stance on single-player exclusives, tapping into the broader market with games like Helldivers 2 and Marathon allows Sony to capture a share of the live-service pie by catering to a wider audience.
