After over 30 years with the company, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has announced his intention to step down in March 2024.
After joining Sony a few months before the introduction of the PlayStation in 1994, he was promoted to the position of Chief Executive Officer of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) in February of 2019.
His departure comes as a surprise in light of the recent triumph of the PlayStation 5, which he has supervised from the console’s introduction in the year 2020.
Mr. Ryan explained that he made the choice to leave due to the difficulties he encountered while living in Europe and working in North America.
In a statement, he added, “I’ve relished the opportunity to have a job I love in a very special company, working with great people and incredible partners.” “I’ve relished the opportunity to have a job I love in a very special company,” he said.
“I will leave having been privileged to work on products that have touched millions of lives across the world; PlayStation will always be a part of my life, and I feel more optimistic than ever about the future of SIE.”
After Mr. Ryan leaves his position as CEO of Sony, the company’s chief operating officer, Hiroki Totoki, will assume the role of interim CEO.
“Motivating and energizing leader”
When the PS5 first came out, there were considerable supply concerns, which led to scalpers buying up the systems and reselling them for twice as much as they were originally worth.
But those issues have now been fixed, and Sony has gone on to sell a total of 40 million systems around the world.
“Jim Ryan has been an inspirational leader throughout his entire period with us, but never more so than when he was overseeing the launch of PlayStation 5 in the midst of the global Covid pandemic,” stated Kenichiro Yoshida, the CEO of Sony. “Jim Ryan has been an inspirational leader throughout his entire period with us.”
“That extraordinary achievement made by the entire SIE team has been steadily built on, and Sony Interactive Entertainment’s PlayStation 5 is on track to become the company’s most successful console to date.”
