Jim Ryan is leaving PlayStation. He spent almost 30 years at Sony

Jim Ryan – the head of PlayStation and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment – is leaving the company he founded for nearly 30 years. A huge change in the gaming world is the end of an era.

The PlayStation brand, well-known to gamers, will soon lose a key leader. Manager Jim Ryan, identified with Sony consoles and games, announced his plan to leave the Japanese company and is taking a well-deserved retirement.

Jim Ryan is leaving PlayStation

Ryan, together with Sony, issued an official statement in which he announced his resignation from the positions of head of PlayStation and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony’s subsidiary dealing with consoles and game production.

“After 30 years, I have made the decision to retire in March 2024. I have been extremely pleased to be able to do a job I love in a very special company. I worked with great people and amazing partners,” the manager begins.

The Briton mentions the multitude of duties performed away from home as the reason for leaving the position of CEO. “It was becoming increasingly difficult for me to reconcile living in Europe and working in the USA. However, I walk away thinking about the great privilege it has been for me to create products that have touched the lives of millions of people. PlayStation will always be part of my life,” he concludes.

Hiroki Totoki replaces Jim Ryan at Sony Interactive

Jim Ryan worked at Sony for 28 years. Initially, he held positions in the European branch of the company, where he started working in 1994. He held a number of managerial positions there, including: director of global sales or global marketing. He took over at SIE from John Kodera in 2019.

The greatest success of the departing manager was the premiere and development of PlayStation 5 – one of the company’s most successful consoles currently has a dominant position on the market, despite a difficult start during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ryan was also a key figure in the battle between Sony and Microsoft over the acquisition of Activision.

From April 1 next year, Hiroki Totoki, president and COO of Sony Group Corporation, will assume the duties of CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The Japanese has already announced, among others: working closely with the company’s headquarters and Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida on developing a new PlayStation strategy and finding Ryan’s successor.