PlayStation Studios vice president and head of mobile Nicola Sebastiani has officially left his position, announcing via LinkedIn that he is going to “pursue a new, undisclosed opportunity”.
In recent years, PlayStation has made many moves in mobile from acquisitions, to restructuring, to a series of hirings. However, a change of its mobile head so early on may ring alarm bells for some.
Prior experience
PlayStation’s mobile division was established back in the summer of 2021, with Sebastiani chosen to lead the new team after close to eight years’ experience working at Apple. He initially led the App Store’s games business management team, and in 2018 became the head of content for Apple Arcade, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz.
Sebastiani also worked at Ubisoft before his move to Apple, spending nearly three years there as digital product manager.
His hire by PlayStation came during its push into the mobile market at a time when the company was looking at diversifying its portfolio by using its catalogue of first-party IP and transitioning them into mobile games.
Sebastiani’s appointment was a clear indicator of PlayStation’s plans to expand at the time, especially with veterans from Kabam and Meta having been brought on board during the same period; Kabam’s Kris Davies joined as senior director and head of mobile business development, meanwhile Meta’s Olivier Courtemanche came aboard as head of mobile product.
Since Sebastiani joined the team, he focused on the studio, business and its products. A hiring spree took place in late 2022 with the gaming brand having become increasingly concerned with developing its mobile presence, and after Sebastiani’s own hire came PlayStation’s first acquisition of a dedicated mobile games studio: Savage Game Studios was acquired for an undisclosed amount.
Earlier this month, Hill Climb Racing creator Fingersoft appointed Annika Suni as the company’s new CFO.
