PlayStation Boss Jim Ryan to Exit Sony After Almost 30 Years

Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, is retiring next year after almost three decades with the company’s PlayStation business.

Ryan will step down from the post in March 2024, Sony announced Wednesday. In October 2023, Sony Group president, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki will assume the role of chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment. As of April 1, 2024, Totoki will be appointed interim CEO of SIE while he continues his current role at Sony Group and as the company conducts a search for Ryan’s successor.

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Ryan joined Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Europe-based legal entity, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe (SIEE) — which was then called Sony Computer Entertainment Europe — in 1994. Since then, he has held a number of senior positions at the company including president of SIEE and head of global sales and marketing at SIE. He was elevated to deputy president of SIE in January 2018, before being appointed the group’s president and CEO the following year.

“Jim Ryan has been an inspirational leader throughout his entire period with us, but never more so than in overseeing the launch of PlayStation 5 in the midst of the global COVID pandemic,” Sony Group chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said in a statement. “That extraordinary achievement made by the entire SIE team has been steadily built on and PlayStation 5 is on track to become SIE’s most successful console yet. I’m immensely grateful to Jim for all his achievements.”

Ryan, in a statement released by Sony, said, “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. 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. I want to thank Yoshida-san for placing so much trust in me and being an incredibly sensitive and supportive leader.”

Through July of this year, Sony said that it had sold 40 million PlayStation 5s. In the second calendar quarter, Sony said 3.3 million PS5 consoles were delivered (compared with 2.4 million in the year-earlier period). In the quarter, PlayStation Network averaged 108 million monthly active users (up from 103 million a year prior).

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