Controversial PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan will be stepping down from his position next year, after being with the company for more than 30 years. His run as CEO has definitely had its ups and downs, but there’s no doubt that this is a major shocker that could change the entire company.
Sony released a press release regarding Ryan’s retirement, thanking him for his work and confirming that he will be leaving in March 2024. Ryan will be replaced by Hiroki Totoki, who already assumed the roles of Corporation President, COO, and CFO. Totoki will be the CEO of PlayStation effective immediately on April 2024.
“After 30 years, I have made the decision to retire from SIE in March 2024. I’ve relished the opportunity to have a job I love in a very special company, working with great people and incredible partners," Ryan commented. "But I’ve found it increasingly difficult to reconcile living in Europe and working in North America. 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.”
Ryan’s supervision over PlayStation has been somewhat controversial, as his run led to a lot of PlayStation exclusives playing similarly. Ever since The Last of Us, almost every PS exclusive has been an over-the-shoulder third-person action-adventure game that tried being cinematic. These exclusives also tried too hard to be funny, leading to characters that never shut up.
The former CEO also made controversial comments about older games, which is probably why we haven’t seen too many older re-releases. Despite a few re-releases here and there, most fans still don’t have access to the majority of PS2 and PS3 games on their modern systems, which had a lot to do with Ryan.
His hatred/indifference to older titles almost led to the closure of the PS3 and PS Vita online stores. Fan backlash led to the stores still being alive. However, after Microsoft announced the Xbox 360's online store’s closure, many think the PS3 and PS Vita will be next.
Read More: Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition launches on PC and PS5 simultaneously
Even with all the controversy, Jim Ryan’s run did give us stellar titles like The Last of Us Part 2, Horizon Forbidden West, and God of War Ragnarok. The next chapter of PlayStation should be interesting, at the very least.
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