Sony names new PlayStation executives after Jim Ryan resigns
Kyiv • UNN
Sony has appointed Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino to lead the PlayStation division, sharing responsibility for the platform and gaming businesses.
Sony appoints co-CEOs Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino as heads of the PlayStation division starting June 1, UNN reports with reference to The Verge.
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Hermen Hulst, currently head of PlayStation Studios, will be appointed CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment's (SIE) studio business group. Hideaki Nishino will be appointed CEO of SIE's platform business group, and both will report to Sony's CFO and SIE Chairman Hiroki Totoki.
The unusual appointment of co-CEOs came just a few months after former PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan resigned.
Totoki has been serving as interim CEO of SIE and has been working to find a successor to the SIE CEO position, but Sony has now decided that it wants to split the responsibilities of running its PlayStation business across platforms and games. Both Nishino and Hulst are veterans of Sony, with Nishino having worked for Sony in several capacities for over 20 years.
Sony has appointed co-CEOs to run its PlayStation business for the first time, and it comes as the gaming industry is reeling from layoffs over the past 18 months. Earlier this year, Sony laid off 900 PlayStation employees and closed its London studio in the UK, which developed games for PlayStation VR.
Sony lays off 900 PlayStation employeesFeb 27 2024, 03:00 PM • 37396 views
Earlier this year, Microsoft laid off 1,900 Activision and Xbox employees, and then last week closed the Bethesda studios behind Redfall and Hi-Fi Rush in another round of layoffs.
Sony's announcement of the new PlayStation executives also comes just hours before the company is due to report its latest earnings. Sony lowered its sales forecasts for the PS5 console last quarter, so now all eyes are on the number of PS5 units the company managed to sell in fiscal year 2023, which ended on March 31. There may also be additional hints about Sony's ambitious plans for the PlayStation PC.
During the financial results teleconference earlier this year, SIE Chairman Hiroki Totoki discussed the possibility of developing PlayStation games on PC/multiplatform. "In the past, we wanted to popularize consoles... but there are synergies," said Totoki, "So if you have strong native content, not only for our console but also for other platforms like computers, native content can be developed across multiple platforms, and that can help boost operating profit.
