New PlayStation President and CEO of SIE Appointed

Sony is in the midst of shifting some of its staff around, as the company prepares to appoint Jim Ryan as the new President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. Effective April 1, 2019, Ryan will take over for John Kodera, who will then serve as Deputy President, taking Ryan’s place. Effectively, the two will be swapping roles as the company gears up for next generation, with the swap emphasizing the PlayStation Network.

Sony CEO and President Kenichiro Yoshida stated:

Our Game & Network Services business has grown into the Sony Group’s largest business in terms of both sales and operating income. Furthermore, our business in this domain holds significant importance as our growth driver going forward. At the same time, this industry is relentlessly fast-moving, and to remain the market leader, we must constantly evolve ourselves with a sense of urgency.

Evidently, Ryan’s expertise lie in the overall organization and operations of SIE, while Kodera has a focus on the development of PSN, which has recently reached over 90 million active users.

The emphasis on PSN is not surprising, but it is a telling sign for what might be coming next generation. There have been lots of improvements to the online infrastructure, but perhaps SIE has more plans in the works to make sure it is keeping up with user standards.

As Sony shifts to the next generation, there are a lot of things we don’t know. The company has been silent for quite some time now. Many are speculating on what could be coming, but with Sony pulling out of E3, there’s no telling what they have in the works.

Along with the staff shuffle, Kenichiro Yoshida mentioned that PSN was “a very strong entertainment platform for all of Sony—very suitable for video and music content.”

It will be fascinating to see the results of this shift, but we will have to wait until at least April 1st to see the new changes in action.

[Source: Venture Beat]