Sony PlayStation chief Jim Ryan to step down in March
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Jim Ryan, who has run Sony's successful PlayStation division since 2019 and been part of its video game operation since 1994, is retiring early next year, Sony announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: Ryan's exit caps off a successful run, but comes at a pivotal time for Sony's powerful gaming brand.
Driving the news: Ryan will step down as Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO on March 31, with Sony chief operating officer Hiroki Totoki assuming the role of interim division CEO until a successor is found.
- Totoki will also serve as SIE chairman starting in October of this year.
What they're saying: "I've found it increasingly difficult to reconcile living in Europe and working in North America," the British exec said in a statement.
Between the lines: Sony's PlayStation 5 console, launched under Ryan in 2020 in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, has become one of the company's most successful gaming launches, selling 40 million units through July.
- Its first-party titles like last November's God of War: Ragnarök are consistently critically acclaimed multi-million sellers, and its PS4 hit The Last of Us Part II was adapted by HBO into one of 2023's best reviewed and most-watched TV shows.
- But its expensive return to virtual reality with a new headset in February failed to make waves. And its game studios are in the midst of an extended pivot toward making more live-service games as Sony chases the powerful economic model of free-to-play third-party games such as Fortnite and Counter-Strike.
- Sony's next big hardware release, the November-slated PlayStation Portal, is a handheld that only plays games streamed from a user's PS5, an unproven approach to portable gaming.
The intrigue: Under Ryan, Sony has been a voracious acquirer of game studios, including Destiny-maker Bungie, which was acquired last year for $3.6 billion.
- Ryan also led efforts to bring PlayStation games beyond PlayStations, to PCs where many of Sony's games have thrived, and to mobile, where efforts have yet to bear much fruit.
- Ryan made headlines the last two years for his vociferous opposition to Microsoft's attempted purchase of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard. But after the Federal Trade Commission failed to secure an injunction against the deal this summer, Ryan's team struck a deal with Microsoft to secure Call of Duty on PlayStation for the next decade.
The bottom line: In 2021, Ryan told Axios that PlayStation's competition went beyond rival game companies. "We are an entertainment company with a community of more than 100 million gamers with really extraordinary levels of commitment and engagement.
- "I would say unequivocally that we are competing for leisure hours, and that any definition of competition has to extend way beyond the boundaries of what has traditionally been defined as gaming."
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