Inside the Mind of Hermen Hulst

[the-pi-guy]

Hulst says that while PlayStation games have had great success on PC, the console versions still are the priority and games will hit there first. "Typically, there have been about two years between the release on our platform and the PC platform," he says. "But you can rely on us to continue to create platform-defining exclusive content for PlayStation – that's part of the reason why we exist. It's really important for us to squeeze the maximum out of the platform, to build showcases for the platform, and really let the audience see what these great features are contributing to the overall experience."

When asked what the restructuring of Japan Studio means for the future, Hulst was enthusiastic about continuing to move forward in the Japanese development scene. "We're building out Team Asobi under Nicolas Doucet, so we're actually investing in that team. People forget sometimes that we have Polyphony Digital, which is a team in two locations. We are investing in our external development group out of Tokyo as well, and that's a team that has obviously worked with the likes of From Software and Kojima Productions

As Hulst looks into the future, he still sees Sony's exclusives as a big part of it, so don't expect core franchises to jump ship to Xbox Series X/S. However, there is a chance for some titles to appear on PC sometime later, like we saw with Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone. "The one exception to the rule, that was MLB The Show; I think what people have to realize is that it's actually [MLB Advanced Media] that's the publisher on Xbox, so it's not us," he explains. "I honestly can't see us doing that with one of the platform-defining experiences that we're making at PlayStation Studios."

When asked about crunch specifically, Hulst didn't hold back, saying there's so much more to the issue that needs to be done. "I read quite a bit of coverage on the topic of crunch and crunch culture," says Hulst. "And to me, I always think that's such a simplification of everything you need to do. I could easily say, 'We don't do crunch,' and 'I don't like crunch one bit.' But that's not enough."

Hulst speaks to a slew of issues facing developers and the different layers to them. "It can be just as stressful for a developer to be underutilized as it is to be working too many hours, or to work on something that is not clear. Or for a developer to join a studio and feel unseen, like [they're] at home and nobody knows what [they're] doing. There's so many problems and so many issues that impact the well-being of our staff."

Inside The Mind Of PlayStation Studios' Hermen Hulst - Game Informer

[the-pi-guy]

Good:
- Hermen keeps mentioning From Software and Kojima Productions. I think there's a strong indication that they will have exclusive games from them this gen.  

- continuing to invest in Team Asobi and Japanese XDev.

- strong words on crunch

Bad for Legend:
- PC support  

Good for Legend:
- console exclusives are important  

[the-pi-guy]

I think from Sony's perspective, they probably feel that PC isn't at odds to their console.

If we look at Xbox, their games being on PC hasn't hurt them. There are a lot of people who love consoles and a lot of people who love PC, and they're probably finding that there isn't a large amount of overlap.  

Probably view it as an opportunity to sell more games without hurting their console base.  

[the-pi-guy]

Remarkably similar to the PS Blog interview, I will say.

[Dr. Pezus]

"People forget sometimes that we have Polyphony Digital"

I wonder why...