13 Years Later, Ex-PlayStation Bosses Recreate Iconic Moment From PS4 Release
The PlayStation of today is quite different from the PlayStation of the PS4 era. The console maker, after suffering the consequences of its decisions regarding the PS3, was forced to adopt a more player-forward and playful tone in order to get back into the good graces of players. One such moment came from PlayStation’s infamous “Used Game Instructional Video” that had former VP of third-party relations Adam Boyes share a physical game box with former president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida, which poked fun at Xbox. And now, 13 years later, the two have recreated said scene.
Former PlayStation Executives Reenact Their Viral PS4 Commercial
Met with a best friend
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) September 18, 2026@amboyes @PlayStation_jp #TGS2026 pic.twitter.com/2ZjsrLMNaP
Yoshida posted the reenactment on social media. In it, the two are shown passing an imaginary box to one another, albeit on different sides of the screen this time. The second picture is unrelated and just has the pair hugging in front of PlayStation’s Tokyo Game Show booth. Neither are at PlayStation anymore, either, but its booth seemed to have made for the perfect backdrop. This is also not the first time the two have recreated this scene, as they did the same pose in February 2020. Given this pattern, it’s likely these two will take similar callback pictures in the future.
The original commercial made waves when it debuted in June 2013 during E3, the long-dead summer gaming expo. It was just after Xbox announced its confusing plans to essentially kill used games and game sharing with its online DRM for the incoming Xbox One. So, as a light tease, Boyes and Yoshida released an instructional video on how to share a game on PS4. Simply passing a disc to one another is a joke meant to convey the simplicity of how sharing discs is not complicated on PS4.
In 2020, Boyes spoke about making that silly video and how it all came together. He explained how the idea came to him when watching Giant Bomb hosts spend about an hour being befuddled by Xbox’s DRM policy (which it eventually reversed). After initially thinking of a simple website to convey PlayStation’s simpler plan, it dawned on him that it should probably just be “one thing,” and he typed up his idea on the plane ride to E3.
“When I landed they were like, ‘Holy crap, let’s give this a go,'” said Boyes. “I got to the stadium for run-throughs and stuff like that and I saw Shu Yoshida. And I said, ‘Hey Shu, I have this really dumb idea for this video, this goofy sort of like viral video.'”
Boyes initially thought Yoshida should do the video with other PlayStation officials like former president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America Jack Tretton or former software product development head Scott Rhode, but Yoshida insisted Boyes should be the co-star. After around five to eight takes and a quick edit from the video team, they ran it by Tretton and former Sony Interactive Entertainment president and global CEO Andrew House. They both liked the idea, but, unlike House, Tretton didn’t want it in PlayStation’s actual live E3 press conference, so it was posted online during the show instead.
And despite the obvious target, Tretton also later said that he had friends and Microsoft and PlayStation “wasn’t necessarily looking to do [the video] at [Microsoft’s] expense.” He said he “was just feeling really good about it.”
The silly instructional video has garnered new context in the last couple months. PlayStation’s announcement that it was killing physical discs by January 2028 gave some users the green light to flock back to the video and flood it with comments pointing out the company’s hypocrisy and more anti-consumer practices.
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