PlayStation boss Jim Ryan is stepping down, with successor yet to be named

By Giovanni Colantonio Published September 28, 2023

Playstation CEO and president, Jim Ryan, stands in front of a blue wall with Playstation button symbols illuminated. — Alex Wong/Getty Images

Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan is retiring after 30 years. The PlayStation boss will formally leave his role in March 2024 with a successor yet to be named.

Jim Ryan has been working with PlayStation since 1994 when he joined Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe. Since then, he’s become the key figurehead for the PlayStation brand, similar to Phil Spencer’s role within Xbox. His most recent success has come from the launch of the PlayStation 5, which has already surpassed a 40 million unit milestone. Today, Sony announced that Ryan plans to retire from the role.

Recommended Videos

Plans are already in place to fill that gap according to a press release from Sony. Sony Group COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki will be stepping into Ryan’s role as an interim CEO while continuing his role within the Sony Group. During that time, he’ll work with Sony Group Corporation Chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida to “define the next chapter of PlayStation’s future.” That will include naming an official successor to Ryan.

Ryan explained the surprise shift in a press release, citing a logistical reason for his departure: the difficulty of balancing a life in Europe with a North American job.

“After 30 years, I have made the decision to retire from SIE in March 2024,” Ryan writes. “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.”

Totoki will step into an era of change for PlayStation, as Sony is currently prepping a more aggressive dive into live service with titles like Marathon and FairGame$. It remains to be seen if new leadership will have any impact on the company’s plans going forward.

Topics

Giovanni Colantonio

Senior Gaming Editor

As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…

Gaming

All upcoming PS5 games: 2024, 2025, and beyond

Team up abilities in Marvel Rivals

The PlayStation 5 has been out for some time now, and its reception has been mostly positive. It includes lots of quality-of-life improvements over its predecessor, the PlayStation 4, such as faster load times, a solid-state drive (SSD) instead of a regular hard disk drive (HDD), and an improved controller in the form of the new DualSense. However, a console is only as good as the games available on it and, thankfully, the PS5 has you covered on that front as well.

While the machine already has a worthy library of great PS5 games, there are even more to look forward to, with some releasing as soon as this month, while others are still years away. Some will be completely free PS5 games, some will be PS5 exclusives, and others will be completely cross-platform so you can play with friends on Xbox, PC, and Switch.

Gaming

The PS5 is finally on sale for Prime Big Deal Days. Now’s the right time to buy it

A PS5 sits on a table with a DualSense standing up next to it.

Despite the fact that we're four years into this current console generation, PS5 discounts have been as slim as its recent redesign. You'll hardly ever find Sony's console for less than its launch day price. Even when the PS5 Pro was announced, Sony opted to keep the base model's price the same. That's finally changed. As part of Amazon's Prime Big Deals Day, the PS5 Digital Edition just got a big price cut. Regularly $450, it's on sale for $400 through most major retailers, but has been bouncing a bit lower (it's currently $395 at the time of writing).

You may be wondering if this is the right moment to buy a PS5. After all, its $700 Pro model is slated to launch next month. I'd argue that this is the exact moment to buy a base model, though.

Gaming

Ghost of Yotei: release date window, trailers, gameplay, and more

A samurai stares at a mountain.

Ghost of Tsushima was an outstanding game to end the PS4 generation with. Sucker Punch chose to pivot to a new IP far divorced from its past Infamous or Sly Cooper games and focus on a more grounded and historically influenced game about the Mongol invasion of the island of Tsushima. Naturally, we all expected a continuation of the story since that was just one small component of that conflict. Indeed we will get another entry, but not in the way we all expected. Ghost of Yotei has been revealed and is making some big changes, but also holding true to what Sucker Punch believes to be the core of the series. Let's follow the wind together to find out all we can about this upcoming PS5 game.
Release date window

For now, all we know is that Ghost of Yotei is expected to come out at some point in 2025. Considering the game has no specific window, we would predict this means it is likely coming in the second half of the year and likely be PlayStation's big fall or winter release. Once we know more, we will update you.
Platforms