Yoshida spent 10 years working under Ken Kutaragi, and he admits that without him that PlayStation wouldn't have happened. Humbly, Yoshida says that without Kutaragi, he wouldn't have a job, either. "I have nothing but respect for what he has done for me," he says. At dinner once, Kutaragi turned to him and said that he knew Yoshida didn't necessarily like him, but he knew that Yoshida liked working for him because he could do exciting work as a result. "I said 'yes, exactly.'"
Working with Kutaragi was incredibly difficult, Yoshida says, because he could do an immediate 180 in terms of what he wanted. On the engineering team, trying to predict where he might alter direction was "a very difficult job," Yoshida says. "Every week his direction and instructions could change."
Also tough was that he struggled to give compliments to coworkers. "I was complimented by Ken twice!" says Yoshida. "When I say this to my colleagues, they say 'twice? That's a lot!'' Those flow much more freely from Yoshida. "For me, giving a complement is free, it's like a smile from McDonald's," he says. "But still, we all love Ken."