Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida "canceled so many games," including a new IP from God of War dev Santa Monica Studio: "These days, a $25 million cancellation is nothing special"

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Former PlayStation Boss Reveals Details Behind $25 Million Game Cancellations

In a recent interview, Shuhei Yoshida, former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, opened up about two major game cancellations he oversaw, each of which had already consumed $25 million in development resources.

One of the cancelled projects was reportedly a long-rumored sci-fi game from Santa Monica Studio, the team behind God of War. Speaking on Simon Parkin’s My Perfect Console podcast, Yoshida explained:

"One was actually an internal game developed by Santa Monica Studios. Not a God of War game – a new IP. It has a really amazing concept, and really interesting gameplay ideas. Of course, Santa Monica Studio people are very, very capable of creating high-quality art. So we supported them for many years, but after $25 million, they came to me and said that we have to stop. I do not exactly remember the reason for it. The team was not able to find 'the game.' It was a great concept. Great idea. But the gameplay didn't really come to be."

Yoshida noted that canceling games is common practice, though he usually prefers to halt development before significant resources are spent. "I canceled so many games… early cancellation doesn't cost us much. However, if the game was kind of making progress, and very promising vision went on and on, after $25 million it was a really hard decision. But I think in that case, Santa Monica Studio by themselves, was like, 'probably we have to stop.'"

The second cancelled project, Yoshida revealed, was a big-budget title developed at one of Sony’s European studios. Few details were provided, other than that the project also lacked a solid core gameplay foundation. "There were many, many good games from Europe, but one game was a big-budget project that didn’t, in a similar way, have the core game," he said.

Yoshida’s comments underscore the high stakes involved in AAA game development. Even projects with tens of millions of dollars invested can be scrapped if the team cannot fully realize a compelling gameplay experience.

References

  1. Parkin, Simon. My Perfect Console podcast, 2025 — Interview with Shuhei Yoshida.

  2. Yoshida, Shuhei. Interview on cancelled projects at Santa Monica Studio and European studios, 2025.

  3. Sony Interactive Entertainment — History of Santa Monica Studio and AAA project development practices.

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