Jim Ryan, President and CEO at Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation), will retire in March 2024 after 30 years of working within the company. Sony has decided to place President, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki as the new Chairman of SIE (PlayStation) starting next month to help Jim Ryan with the transition. Totoki will also assume the role of interim CEO at SIE starting on April 1st, 2024, while Sony seeks a successor to Ryan.
Jim Ryan had been promoted to president and CEO of SIE (PlayStation) in February 2019, replacing John Kodera. He previously was the head of SIE Europe; during that time, he made the infamous statement that gamers were not using backward compatibility much. That was when PlayStation 4 didn’t support backward compatibility; eventually, the success of Xbox’s backward compatibility forced Sony to support it as well, albeit in a more limited fashion. More recently, Ryan was on the frontline of Sony’s opposition to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and was even called to testify in the federal court legal battle that Microsoft ultimately won.
Today, Jim Ryan shared the following statement on his imminent retirement:
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.
Sony Group Chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida added:
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. 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. Respecting Jim’s decision to finish his long career at Sony leaves me with an important decision regarding his succession given the significance of the Game & Network Services business. We have discussed intensively and have determined the new management structure. We aim to achieve Sony Group’s further evolution and growth through bringing even greater success to the Game & Network Services Business.
