Highlights
- Jim Ryan, the CEO and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, is retiring after leading the PS5 to sell over 40 million units, surpassing Xbox.
- Ryan has been with Sony since 1994 and became the president and CEO of SIE in 2019, overseeing the PlayStation brand.
- Hiroki Totoki will succeed Ryan as SIE's chairman in October and interim CEO in April 2024, but it's unclear if he will remain CEO after that. Exciting projects are expected from Sony in 2024 and beyond.
Jim Ryan, known as the CEO and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), has just announced his retirement after almost 30 years working with the PlayStation brand. One of Ryan’s main achievements at his job was leading the PS5 to sell over 40 million units, greatly outpacing its rival Xbox.
The story of Jim Ryan with Sony started back in 1994, the same year the first PlayStation was released. Ryan initially worked at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and has participated in several segments of the company since then. In 2019, Ryan became president and CEO of SIE, essentially becoming the person in charge of the PlayStation brand.
Now, Jim Ryan is stepping down as the PlayStation boss and will retire from the company in March 2024. According to today’s announcement, which was first reported by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the reason for the retirement is that Ryan has been finding it difficult to live in Europe and work in North America. The PlayStation boss will initially be succeeded by Hiroki Totoki, who works as the current president, COO, and CFO of the Sony Group Corporation. Totoki will assume as SIE’s chairman in October to assist in the transition, and then become the interim CEO of SIE in April 2024. At the moment, however, it’s not clear if Totoki will remain as the CEO after that or will be replaced.
During the five years that Jim Ryan worked as the PlayStation top boss, he was partially responsible for the success of the PS5. It was also during his tenure that first-party games such as Horizon Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarok were launched and became hits. However, it’s also fair to say that Ryan participated in his share of controversies. One of these cases was when he was accused by Sony employees of not taking a hard stance about abortion rights, or when Jim Ryan threw shade at Microsoft, calling Xbox Game Pass “destructive” for the industry.
Jim Ryan may be leaving PlayStation behind, but this doesn’t mean that the company has stopped working on new and exciting products. Not only Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is just around the corner, but a new patent indicates that Sony could be working on a touchscreen for the PS5 controller. By using this technology, Sony could allow gamers to stream content to their DualSense while using the touchscreen. So, it remains to be seen what exciting projects Sony Interactive Entertainment will have for 2024 and beyond.
Source: Sony
