PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida congratulates Xbox on Forza Horizon 5 release

Forza Horizon 5 screenshot — Just because Sony and Microsoft are competitors doesn’t mean they can’t be civil (pic: Microsoft)

One of Sony’s most prominent execs is as excited to play Forza Horizon 5 on the Xbox as everyone else.

Forza Horizon 5 technically doesn’t release for another few days, but those who bought the Premium Edition are no doubt playing it right now. So far, it has received almost unanimously positive reviews from critics and is currently holding an average score of 91 on Metacritic – the highest of the year so far.

It’s unsurprising then that Xbox owners are feverishly excited to play the game themselves, and this even includes one of Sony’s most prominent employees: Shuhei Yoshida.

In a brief Tweet aimed at Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who was singing his praises for Forza Horizon 5’s Mexico setting and Mexico’s Xbox community, Yoshida congratulated Spencer on the game’s launch and that he will enjoy visiting Mexico in-game.

Congratulations on the launch, Iâll enjoy visiting Mexico in the game 😀

— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) November 4, 2021

Yoshida has been part of Sony since 1993 and a key member of the PlayStation brand since its inception. He went on to become the president of PlayStation Studios (or SIE Worldwide Studios as it used to be called) for 11 years.

He made appearances in the PlayStation 4 unboxing video and the iconic demonstration of how to share PS4 games with friends. Ironically enough, that video was made in response to Microsoft’s controversial attempts to restrict the use and sales of second-hand Xbox games (which it later U-turned on).

Yoshida stepped down from his position in 2019, with Herman Hulst from Guerrilla Games (the studio behind Horizon Zero Dawn and its upcoming sequel, Horizon Forbidden West) taking over.

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Nowadays, Yoshida serves as the head of Sony’s Independent Developer Initiative, which focuses on assisting external indie developers.

While Sony and Microsoft are business competitors, it’s always nice to see their respective employees publicly share their excitement for each other’s games.

Forza Horizon 5 releases on November 9 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The Premium Edition is available now.