Ken Kutaragi, the creator of the PlayStation, participated in a panel discussion at Japan’s University of Electro-Communications on September 29. Taking the stage at the opening ceremony of CEREC – a new academic research and education hub centered on games – he talked about the evolution and future potential of video games as a medium, as well as the importance of human “curiosity.”
As reported by GameWatch and 4Gamer, Kutaragi spoke of the massive scale the global game industry has grown to, valued at $186 billion in the software market alone and surpassing film, television and music. Despite how much gaming has evolved since the early 1970s, Kutaragi doesn’t consider it a mature industry that has already reached its limits, predicting that there are still significant breakthroughs to be made.
At the same time, he mentions that while modern games have grown in scale and evolved graphically, the content itself has stagnated. He says that recent games have reinforced this impression, noting that the approach to creating content remains fundamentally unchanged from the original PlayStation project he spearheaded.
Still, he believes the industry is at a major turning point and poised to advance to the “next stage.” After reflecting on how his team developed the PlayStation with the intent to “change the world,” Kutaragi described the game industry of the past as one that “created the world’s most cutting-edge technology” rather than merely following it. He urged fellow industry professionals and students present at the panel to adopt this same mindset in their work.
Notably, Kutaragi also advised students that pursuing curiosity in games and beyond is an absolute must. He explained that the neural networks of the human brain are at their peak at birth, and as we grow and repeat the same actions, networks deemed unnecessary are gradually severed. “The moment you lose your curiosity and think, This is probably as good as it gets, it’s all over,” he said.
