In surprise news, the Sony equivalent of Phil Spencer has announced he is to retire, with the search now on to find a replacement.
Sony has finally announced some unexpected news, but it has nothing to do with new PlayStation 5 games or hardware plans. Instead, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) president and CEO Jim Ryan has announced he is to retire from the company in March 2024 (the end of Sony’s current financial year).
There’d previously been no indication of him leaving, and while his departure was leaked a few hours before official confirmation it’s hard to read between the lines and tell whether this is simply him exiting of his own accord or something else.
He has been at Sony for almost 30 years, but he’s only 63, which is not particularly old for a top executive. ‘I’ve relished the opportunity to have a job I love in a very special company, working with great people and incredible partners. But I’ve found it increasingly difficult to reconcile living in Europe and working in North America,’ he said in a statement.
‘I will leave having been privileged to work on products that have touched millions of lives across the world; PlayStation will always be part of my life, and I feel more optimistic than ever about the future of SIE. I want to thank Yoshida-san [Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida] for placing so much trust in me and being an incredibly sensitive and supportive leader.’
On the face of it that seems perfectly reasonable, as Ryan is English and was previously head of PlayStation Europe, in which position we had several stimulating interviews with him.
However, consolidating PlayStation’s operations in the US instead of Japan, and decreasing the autonomy of PlayStation Europe, seem to have been Ryan’s idea. Or at the very least those changes happened shortly after he took over and he did nothing to change them.
Given how few interviews and public appearances he made after taking over, it is difficult to tell what was his idea and what was already in motion before he became top dog, with his greatest legacy likely to be Sony’s pivot towards live service titles.
Although, again, it’s possible that direction was already conceived before he took over, as former Sony of America boss Shawn Layden was talking about live service titles as the future of the business long before Ryan became president.
They were announced on Ryan’s watch though, and despite talk of 10 titles by 2026 none of them have been released yet or seem anywhere close to launch.
Ultimately, Ryan’s greatest achievements are his work at PlayStation Europe, where he was pivotal to the early consoles’ success, and the PlayStation 5 itself – which despite the qualms about its recent software support has been a far greater success than even he could imagine.
He also oversaw the purchase of Destiny 2 developer Bungie, the biggest in PlayStation history, which appears to have gone smoothly and will certainly be advantageous to Sony’s live service strategy.
Currently there is no indication of who will replace Ryan, although Sony Group chief operating officer and chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki will take over Ryan’s role of CEO from October, in order to help with the transition and lead the search for a replacement.
Whether the newcomer will be a familiar face or bring in sweeping changes – or merely continue on the current path – is impossible to say at the moment but we wish Ryan well in his retirement.
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