Jim Ryan To Retire – New Leadership for PlayStation

Jim Ryan is stepping down as the boss of PlayStation. We have all the details about his retirement and speculations on the future of the Sony Playstation Brand.

PlayStation Boss Jim Ryan has announced his retirement from his position as CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment in April of 2024. This news was first broken by Bloomberg and later confirmed by an official press release by Sony Interactive.

Jim Ryan Leaves Sony in April of 2024

Ryan who has been with PlayStation since 1996 first joined the Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) European branch which he would later become the president of. In 2016 Ryan was made Head of Global Sales & Marketing of SIE as a while while retaining his spot as President of SIE Europe.

Later in 2018, he became deputy president of SIE International before being named the successor of John Kodera in 2019. He has been a force to be reckoned with for quite some time, assisting and managing what many would consider the Golden Years of the PlayStation 4 and leading into the launch of the PlayStation 5. Under him, Sony still saw record sales even throughout the pandemic.

But Jim Ryan wasn’t a figure without controversy either. Last year Ryan sent a memo in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe vs. Wade abortion decision which has huge ramifications for women’s access to healthcare. Which was considered by many employees as tone-deaf while also including five paragraphs about his two cats’ first birthday.

His and Sony’s meddling in the Mircosoft Activision acquisition is also well documented, with one of the judges infamously asking FTC regulators whether they were protecting the rights of consumers of Sony Interactive.

But despite that, Jim Ryan leaves Sony Interactive on a path of success. While the PlayStation 5 is still lacking any considerable system sellers, it is still the most dominant next-gent console on the market today with over 40 million units sold. And with many big AAA titles from Sony’s first and second-party developers on the way, there is no doubt this lead will only grow.

Ryan cited that the big reason for his retirement is the reconciliation of living in Europe while working in North America. Implying that frequent traveling is starting to take its toll on the 53-year-old.

Hiroki Totoki is next in line for now

His replacement is currently set to be the director, president, COO, and CFO of Sony Group Corporation. Totoki (Age 59) has been with Sony since 1987 and had various leadership roles throughout his career. But the press release also states that Totoki only takes on the role as Interim CEO of SIE while they’re looking for a full-time successor to Jim Ryan.

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