Jim Ryan’s successors are known, because yes, they are

The announcement had been awaited for several months now and it fell in the middle of the night (French time), Jim Ryan has finally found his successors. Finally, they were rather nominated by the Sony PlayStation group board which obviously chose figures already internally. Because yes, the former CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment is replaced by two people instead of one, namely Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino. The first is Dutch and is known to the PlayStation brand, since he is the founder of the Guerrilla Games studio (the Killzone and Horizon series) and has since become the director of PlayStation Studios. In his job sheet, it is noted that he will take care of the new Studio Business Group department, but he will also be the guarantor of the quality of the film/series adaptations of PlayStation games. When we know that God of War, Ghost of Tsushima and Horizon are in production, we obviously shouldn’t miss it, especially after the colossal success of the Fallout series.

The second person who will be at the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment is none other than the Japanese Hideaki Nishino, who has also been in the group for a long time and who has been promoted to big boss of the Platform Business Group department in addition to his responsibilities already in place, which means that. Hideaki Nishino will still manage the technology, products, services and experience of the PlayStation platform. But that’s not all, other tasks have been entrusted to him such as supervising relations with publishers and third-party developers, without forgetting commercial deals around hardware, accessories and services such as PlayStation Network and PlayStation Plus .

Together, Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino will report to Hiroki Totoki, who is none other than the CFO and COO of Sony Group Corporation, who was appointed interim just after the announcement of the departure of Sony Group Corporation. Jim Ryan, whose resignation has been effective since April 1, 2024. This somehow means a more Japanese and European philosophy from Sony, which had taken a very Americanized direction in its vision and its business. And even though the results around the PS5 and this new period are good, the Japanese giant has been widely criticized for its positions, particularly on pricing and this Apple-ization aspect that many players did not appreciate. Sony plans to organize a new meeting later this year to clarify the company’s objectives.