Jim Ryan, the head of PlayStation, is leaving the firm, Sony revealed on Wednesday.
After 30 years in the PlayStation industry, the President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment will retire in March 2024.
Sony Group Corporation president, COO and CFO Mr. Hiroki Totoki will assume the role of SIE chairman next month to “support” the transition, and will take over as interim CEO once Mr. Ryan retires.
The company said that he will work with management to “help define the next chapter of PlayStation’s future”; and to find the next boss for Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Ryan joined SIE in 1994, and in 2019 they made him CEO. Prior to this, he served as vice president of SIE, president of SIE Europe, and head of global sales and marketing at the company.
Ryan led the launch of the PlayStation 5, which the company said is PlayStation’s most successful platform.
“I’ve found it increasingly difficult to reconcile living in Europe and working in North America,” Ryan said in a statement. “I will leave having been privileged to work on products that have touched millions of lives across the world.”
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SIE launched the PlayStation 5 under Ryan’s leadership. While the company struggled to produce enough consoles in the height of the pandemic due to component shortages, it was eventually able to increase production and meet demands. In the first quarter of 2023, Sony shipped 3.3 million PS5 units; that brings the total number of consoles sold to 41.7 million.
Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida praised Ryan for “overseeing the launch of PlayStation 5 in the midst of the global COVID pandemic,” saying that the device is now “on track to become SIE’s most successful console yet”.
