Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino Named as PlayStation's New CEOs

[Moonface]

Pretty much what the Tweet says. Thought it was interesting enough to share it and I wouldn't be surprised if this is true.

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UPDATE: Sony has officially confirmed that Jim Ryan will be stepping down in March 2024: https://sonyinteractive.com/en/press-rel...ainment-2/

(September 28, 2023, Tokyo / September 27, San Mateo, CA) – Sony Group Corporation and Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) today announced that SIE President and CEO Jim Ryan has made the decision to retire in March 2024 after almost thirty years with the PlayStation business. To support Mr. Ryan in his transition, Sony Group Corporation President, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki will assume the role of Chairman of SIE effective October 2023. Effective April 1, 2024, Mr. Totoki will be appointed Interim CEO of SIE while he continues his current role at Sony Group Corporation. Mr. Totoki will work closely with Sony Group Corporation Chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida and the management team of SIE to help define the next chapter of PlayStation’s future, including the succession of the SIE CEO role.

After 30 years, I have made the decision to retire from SIE in March 2024. I’ve relished the opportunity to have a job I love in a very special company, working with great people and incredible partners. But I’ve found it increasingly difficult to reconcile living in Europe and working in North America. I will leave having been privileged to work on products that have touched millions of lives across the world; PlayStation will always be part of my life, and I feel more optimistic than ever about the future of SIE. I want to thank Yoshida-san for placing so much trust in me and being an incredibly sensitive and supportive leader.

As per the statement, Hiroki Totoki to assume Interim CEO role while keeping his current role at Sony Group. I couldn't determine from the statement if he's going to become the full CEO once Jim Ryan steps down or if it'll be someone else.

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UPDATE: Herman Hulst and Hideaki Nishino named as PlayStation's new CEOs: https://universalgaming.net/showthread.p...2#pid32492

[Mr EliteL]

Never knew who Jim Ryan was so it's whatever news to me other than wow 30 years, and he seemed to have enjoyed his time in the role overall.

[Moonface]

Never knew who Jim Ryan was so it's whatever news to me other than wow 30 years, and he seemed to have enjoyed his time in the role overall.

He was the guy in charge of PlayStation as a whole since 2019, but unlike those before him he wasn't as prominent as a public facing figure, similar to how Doug Bowser currently is for Nintendo compared to Reggie, where the latter was far more of a public facing figure than Bowser has been. Prior to Ryan, the CEO's were Shawn Layden (2014 - 2019) and Jack Tretton (2006 - 2014), who were both a bit more well known compared to Ryan, although that was also helped by the fact back during their tenures PlayStation still did live presentations at E3 and whatnot and both Layden and Tretton would attend those. PlayStation moving away from those to State of Play's meant Ryan would've only had those to show his face at but he never really did. As CEO though from 2019 - 2024 it would mean most major decisions related to PlayStation are attributed to him, both good and bad, including the increase to PS+ prices.

[shadow]

My personal opinion: he should have retired when Fils-Aimé did. 🤷‍♂️ Still, should be interesting to see how Sony moves forward after his departure.

[Moonface]

My personal opinion: he should have retired when Fils-Aimé did. 🤷‍♂️ Still, should be interesting to see how Sony moves forward after his departure.

That could only happen if Ryan chose to not become PlayStation CEO, since he was put into the role in the same year that Reggie retired as Nintendo CEO.

I could see Hermen Hulst becoming the next CEO, since he is currently the head of PlayStation Studios and before that was Co-Founder and Managing Director at Guerilla Games. If it isn't him I don't have a clue who else it's going to be.

[queenzelda]

Honestly, I'm not going to miss him. He is the guy who said; "Who wants ps1 or ps2 on their system? They look terrible no one want to play that." [I'm paraphrasing but still.) Um, I would like to play my ps1 copy of FF7 Jim Ryan, and my PS2 copy of Shadows of Darkness looks just fine to me in 2023.

[Moonface]

Honestly, I'm not going to miss him. He is the guy who said; "Who wants ps1 or ps2 on their system? They look terrible no one want to play that." [I'm paraphrasing but still.) Um, I would like to play my ps1 copy of FF7 Jim Ryan, and my PS2 copy of Shadows of Darkness looks just fine to me in 2023.

Seems a lot of people aren't going to miss him: Bloomberg | Why PlayStation Fans Are Cheering CEO’s Departure

For the part you're paraphrasing, the article I just linked to has the full quote:

At one point, he infuriated retro game fans and preservationists by saying that old PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 games “looked ancient — like why would anybody play this?”

I remembered he had made some remark about retro games but I forgot just how out of touch it was. Just because a game looks ancient doesn't mean it's bad or that people no longer want to play it.

Also if all of this can get dumped into a fire that'll be good:

But Sony’s stable of game studios, such as Naughty Dog (The Last of Us), Insomniac (Spider-Man) and Guerrilla Games (Horizon), have also been working on multiplayer service games — with mixed levels of success. Most have not been revealed yet. Some have been canceled or overhauled, such as an online game based on The Last of Us.

I wasn't aware of Insomniac working on a multiplayer game at any point, but I knew of Naughty Dog with The Last of Us: Factions which I could never trust them to balance as a live service game when they've never balanced the multiplayer in any of their previous games remotely well. Guerilla's multiplayer game was announced to be some form of co-op game set in the Horizon universe, but nothing more has been said ever since that initial statement.

[Moonface]

Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino Named as PlayStation's New CEO's
Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino will jointly succeed Jim Ryan as the CEO's of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Hulst was head of PlayStation Studios, and is now CEO of the newly named Studio Business Group, which includes all of PlayStation’s first-party teams, plus covers the development of PlayStation IP onto other mediums, such as TV and film. Meanwhile, Hideaki Nishino (who was already SVP of Platform Experiences) will lead the Platform Business Group, which includes console hardware, technology, accessories, PlayStation Network and third-party relations (covering major publishers and indie studios).

Both leaders will report to Sony Interactive Entertainment chairman Hiroki Totoki, who has been acting CEO of the division since Jim Ryan stepped down from the role at the end of March. Totoki is also president, COO and CFO of Sony Group Corporation. The latest changes will take effect from June 1st.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz | PlayStation names Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino as its new CEOs

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Not surprised to see Hulst getting the role, but I didn't expect the CEO role to be split between two people. All I hope for is that any of the stupid ideas PlayStation has had such as focusing on live service games or their more recent fumbles with Helldivers II and restricting PC game sales to certain regions for no good reason stop being a thing, but I won't hold my breath; this generation has got me rather cynical with how Sony has handled the PS5 and its games.

[Dragon Lord]

My faith in PlayStation won't be restored until they get leadership who will move headquarters back to Japan and out of the hellhole that is California.

[Moonface]

My faith in PlayStation won't be restored until they get leadership who will move headquarters back to Japan and out of the hellhole that is California.

That would be up to Hiroki Totoki right since he's the overall chairman of SIE right? And even then I think that sort of thing probably has to be done by a vote from an overall board rather than one guy just saying "We're moving here, end of story".