Sony has hired a new PlayStation executive following the resignation of Jim Ryan

Sony names co-CEOs Hermen Hulst and Hideki Nishino to lead its PlayStation business From 1st June. Herman Hulst, currently president of PlayStation Studios, has been appointed CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) Studio Group. Hideaki Nishino will be named CEO of SIE’s Platform Business Group and will both report to Sony CFO and SIE Chairman Hiroki Totoki.

The unusual appointment of co-CEOs comes months after the resignation of former PlayStation boss Jim Ryan. Totoki served as SIE’s interim CEO and worked to find a successor to the SIE CEO role, but Sony has now decided to split responsibilities to lead PlayStation’s business across platforms and games. Both Nishino and Holst are Sony veterans, with Nishino having held various roles at Sony for over 20 years.

It’s the first time Sony has hired a co-CEO to run its PlayStation business, in a gaming industry that has been hit by layoffs over the past 18 months. Sony laid off 900 PlayStation workers earlier this year and closed the London, UK studio that developed PlayStation VR games. Earlier this year, Microsoft laid off 1,900 workers at Activision and Xbox, and then closed Bethesda Studios. The main downfall And Hello Fi Rush Another layoff took place last week.

Sony’s announcement of new PlayStation leaders also comes hours before the latest earnings release. Sony lowered its PS5 console sales forecast last quarter, so all eyes are now on the company being able to sell PS5 units in the 2023 fiscal year ending March 31. We may get more clues about Sony’s ambitious plans for the PlayStation PC.

SIE President Hiroki Totokyo said this during a conference call earlier this year discussion Ability to develop PlayStation games on multiple PCs/platforms. “In the past we wanted to popularize the console … but there is a synergy between them,” Totoki said. “So if you have strong first-party content, not just on our consoles but also on other platforms like PC, first-party content can be expanded across multiple platforms, which can help improve operating profit.”