PlayStation Boss Talks Internet Hate and How It Affects Him

PlayStation Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida is one of the most recognizable executives in the PlayStation business. Some call him the face of PlayStation. He's also very active on Twitter, a place where he gets lots of hate messages. Now, he's talking more about the hate he faces on Twitter and how it affects him.

"It's a tough job but it's a fun job as well," Yoshida told Kinda Funny Games. "It's been great to be able to talk directly to people. And we get an immediate response... from people, whatever we announce."

Yoshida explained that he receives "mostly" positive responses on Twitter, but noted that "some people get really angry and send me hate tweets."

"To be honest, the last couple of days were tough because I can see some pain from the people who are expecting some announcement that didn't happen," he said, referencing the announcements made during Sony's PlayStation Experience keynote. "These people feel ignored."

But Yoshida wants fans to know that Sony has a plan in place for when it wants to make certain announcements. The company can't announce everything all at once. He acknowledged that some fans might find this to be "frustrating and disappointing," but it's the way things work when you run a big company.

The executive went on to say that hate speech on the Internet doesn't help anyone and that he wants to do what he can to make the online world a more wholesome place. Part of that effort is actually responding to people who send him messages of hate.

He says he's found that when he engages with people on Twitter who send him hate messages, the unhappy people generally change their tone because they realize Yoshida is a real human with emotions just like anyone else. This doesn't happen all the time, however, but it's generally true, he said.

You can follow Yoshida on Twitter here.