Shuhei Yoshida says Shenmue 3 Kickstarter was Sega's idea

The Sony president reveals his thoughts on crowdfunding and competitors to Project Morpheus.

In an interview with Engadget at E3, Sony's Shuhei Yoshida explained that the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter was a deal worked out between series creator Yu Suzuki and Sega, who holds the rights. When Sony got wind of the project, it decided to boost the campaign at E3 for a very simple reason: "That's great PR."

While he spent most of the interview spruiking Project Morpheus, Yoshida also had plenty of kind words for the platform's VR competitors. Oculus' announcement of controllers to rival Morpheus' Move solution doesn't faze him; in fact, it's "great for devs," he said. "I'm so excited to try it when I have a chance." Collaboration is essential when you're working with cutting-edge technology, he explains. "I'm so happy that every company is working for the advancement of VR."

Yoshida admits that many of the details of Project Morpheus' design and launch plans are still up in the air, but we've already seen the platform's potential in unique games like bomb defusal sim Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, and there are 30 more titles on the way for the system. He was just as enthused about Morpheus' partnerships outside of gaming, including "something very, very cool that Sony Pictures is working on."

He also had a few comments on The Last Guardian's development difficulties, saying that even though the move to PS4 sent the team back to the drawing board, "since last year, the development has been going very well. So we have a good amount of confidence in terms of this window for next year."