It's a confusing time right now for gaming. Video games are becoming an increasingly expensive hobby. Games are expensive to make, too, and companies want to sell the most lucrative ones they can: Sony and Microsoft are cutting jobs to refocus on blockbusters. At the same time, we’ve got more ways to play than ever: handhelds, phones, even cloud gaming is getting better. So where are we headed? Today on The Vergecast, Sean Hollister asks that question of Shuhei Yoshida, who spent 31 years at Sony playing games and figuring out what gamers will pay for.

Further reading:

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• There may be a way to save your June Oven after all
• Nvidia says its new AI safety platform can contain rogue agents within ‘milliseconds’
• Bose’s first wired earbuds in 11 years add noise canceling
• Xbox is barely Xbox anymore
• AI was everywhere at gaming’s big developer conference — except the games
• Half of developers think gen AI is bad for the gaming industry
• In 2025, AI became a lightning rod for gamers and developers
• The golden age of handheld gaming is already over
• The Steam Machine is the most ambitious game console I’ve ever played
• The PS6 sure sounds like a handheld
• The Steam Deck makes PlayStation’s biggest games portable
• PlayStation exclusives aren’t coming to PC anymore
• I regret buying the PSVR 2
• Xbox exploring ‘radically different’ console business models
• How Sony bought, and squandered, the future of gaming

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