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[Confirmed] Sony confirms the exit of longtime head of internal production Connie Booth

I mean, thats a nice story and all but you (nor I) have any proof that this is the case.

Normally, in any workplace if you are fired you are shown the door, in the case of anyone in any kind of power escorted to the door asap. Someone who has been fired can very easily cause much disruption (and destruction) to a company.
Okay, since you're being so pedantic.

Jim Ryan has had multiple suggestions from senior figures within Sony that perhaps it's the right time to retire but haven't indicated as to what the reason could be. Upon reflection, he's decided not to question the advice but to take it and enjoy a well earned rest.

Better for you? I mean you're right in the sense that we'll never know. But I think if all things are equal Jim wouldn't be leaving. Neither would Connie.
 
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HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
His standing is worth about as much as the rest of neogaf. If you’re trying to imply he knows anything about what’s going on at Sony.
James Franco Flirt GIF
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Nope. Nobody accused Jaffe of lying, but of being overdramatic. Folks were wondering if Sony was going to kill more games or ax unproductive studios based on Jaffe's veiled predictments. When the story came out, it was about one single Sony exec leaving the company (or being fired) that almost no one had ever heard of. For most people the story was an absolute nothing burger.
I believe certain fanboys accuse him of lying. A long time veteran who is also head of internal production getting fired is a big deal. She's not some random low level staffer.

Absolutely nobody was saying Connie hasn't left Sony. They're questioning the drama he is creating around it. About something being frustrating, highly disrespectful or the death of Playstation as we know it.

There are people who say he is lying and cannot be trusted. He is validated.
 
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Three

Gold Member
There are people who say he is lying and cannot be trusted. He is validated.
But show me where somebody said he was lying about Connie leaving Sony which is all that has now been confirmed by Stephen Totilo. What people were saying is that he made the news he knew seem a lot bigger than it is. That he tried to create a lot of drama out of that fact to get members to his show. I've not once seen anybody say he was lying about Connie being let go.

Show me one person who didn't accept that that was a fact for them to now be eating crow for that fact being corroborated.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
But show me where somebody said he was lying about Connie leaving Sony which is all that has now been confirmed by Stephen Totilo. What people were saying is that he made the news he knew seem a lot bigger than it is. That he tried to create a lot of drama out of that fact to get members to his show. I've not once seen anybody say he was lying about Connie being let go.

Show me one person who didn't accept that that was a fact for them to now be eating crow for that fact being corroborated.

That’s a bannable offense here, so no.

Fact remain that he is right; she is no longer at Sony. Those who called him a liar is wrong
 

Three

Gold Member
That’s a bannable offense here, so no.

Fact remain that he is right; she is no longer at Sony. Those who called him a liar is wrong
What's a bannable offense? Nobody is going to ban you for proving what you seem to be claiming.
 
Was Connie Booth part of the Live Service strategy that has now apparently been curtailed?

Maybe she and Jimbo were canned due to strong disagreements with Live Service
 
Adding that line actually increases the perceived importance of the news.

Thank you.

It didn't seem necessary given the actual result. Just adding that line is going to make people speculate on things that could actually lead to the death of Playstation or be on that level.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
He wrote that later. His initial tweet was much more foreboding about the status of PlayStation. The actua news was not as dire as he made it out to be.

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Maybe, he was just trying to say the llaystation we grew up with. Andrew House, Connie etc have now all gone and its a new Sony which aren't doing a bad job but there's no one left there that are part of the old guard so its dead?

Dunno.
 
Maybe, he was just trying to say the llaystation we grew up with. Andrew House, Connie etc have now all gone and its a new Sony which aren't doing a bad job but there's no one left there that are part of the old guard so its dead?

Dunno.

PlayStation has changed a ton from the PSX days. For me the PlayStation we have today is nothing like the PlayStation I started with.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
I'm betting Herman Hulst is the new PlayStation boss and he isn't waiting on Jim Ryan's retirement to make his moves.
i hope he doesnt force all SIE employees wearing horizon t-shirts or something.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
Sure but it just doesn’t sound like you have sources for this, but your speculation is fun and interesting.
Well, I'm not sure if you used to get (industry publication)Develop Magazine delivered in 2004/5 when Sony Cambridge(Ninja Theory) were running double page adverts for 18month (at least) with more than 20 vacancies all for customizing and working with UE3 for PlayStation 3, for their unreleased game(Heavenly Sword) at the time and then went on to release at multi-platform game officially with UE3 when they went independent. from Sony.

Is that suitable type of proof?
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Maybe, he was just trying to say the llaystation we grew up with. Andrew House, Connie etc have now all gone and its a new Sony which aren't doing a bad job but there's no one left there that are part of the old guard so its dead?

Dunno.

Or could have meant a half a dozen other things with that tweet. There was no way to know except he made it sound dire as hell.
 

Zannegan

Member
Or could have meant a half a dozen other things with that tweet. There was no way to know except he made it sound dire as hell.
For him it might be dire. She'd be the one who gave him his shot and greenlit God of War, no?

We (or at least I) would probably never have heard of her in spite of her long and successful tenure at Sony, but for Jaffe that could be a friend and a talented colleague being let go without apparent reason or even gratitude. I always thought "disrespectful" was an odd adjective to use for bad news at Sony, but in that context it makes sense.
 

NonPhixion

Member
Well, I'm not sure if you used to get (industry publication)Develop Magazine delivered in 2004/5 when Sony Cambridge(Ninja Theory) were running double page adverts for 18month (at least) with more than 20 vacancies all for customizing and working with UE3 for PlayStation 3, for their unreleased game(Heavenly Sword) at the time and then went on to release at multi-platform game officially with UE3 when they went independent. from Sony.

Is that suitable type of proof?
What the fuck are you babblin’ about? Ninja Theory was never “Sony Cambridge” nor were they ever part of Sony.
 
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Topher

Identifies as young
For him it might be dire. She'd be the one who gave him his shot and greenlit God of War, no?

We (or at least I) would probably never have heard of her in spite of her long and successful tenure at Sony, but for Jaffe that could be a friend and a talented colleague being let go without apparent reason or even gratitude. I always thought "disrespectful" was an odd adjective to use for bad news at Sony, but in that context it makes sense.

Yeah, but he said this was "about PlayStation" which he had to clarify. After the fact, what he said made sense, but his statement was vague enough to cause many a meltdown.
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
So technically they were never Sony Cambridge and never apart of Sony?

They weren't part of Sony Cambridge, but they were a 2nd party to Sony. Meaning Sony was fully funding them and owned what they produced, but Sony didn't own the company. Heavenly Sword bombing ended that. Had Heavenly Sword made a profit, Sony probably would own them right now.
 

zedinen

Member
And people thought I was crazy when I said I thought Jim Ryan was fired.

Ken Kutaragi got fired and replaced with immediate effect. (Reason: operating loss $1.9 bn)

Jim Ryan will retire on his own terms in March 2024 , after leading PlayStation to the biggest year in its history, and won't be replaced by a permanent CEO until 2025.

Ryan is following House's footsteps: PS4 was launched in 2013, Andrew House retired in 2017, at the top of his career, Jim Ryan was appointed as SIE CEO 18 months later.

Jim Ryan: "I have made the decision to retire in March 2024. I've found it increasingly difficult to reconcile living in Europe and working in North America."

Kenichiro Yoshida: " PS5 is on track to become SIE's more successful console yet. I'm immensely grateful to Jim"
I think a lot of you have no idea of how a company is run. These decisions aren’t made in a vacuum nor by the CEO alone. Ryan didn’t sit in his office and said “we’re gonna do GaaS” and made the studios shift gears to that. It is much more likely that studios heads saw the monetisation possibility in those games as ways to financial studio grow to tackle the long development cycle for single player games. There is no budget reduction for single player games, only an increase for GaaS.

Yoshida, Totoki and Ryan share the same vision

Sony had no choice: it's a matter of life and death

r8GrN6N.jpg



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Ken Kutaragi got fired and replaced with immediate effect. (Reason: operating loss $1.9 bn)

Jim Ryan will retire on his own terms in March 2024 , after leading PlayStation to the biggest year in its history, and won't be replaced by a permanent CEO until 2025.

Ryan is following House's footsteps: PS4 was launched in 2013, Andrew House retired in 2017, at the top of his career, Jim Ryan was appointed as SIE CEO 18 months later.

Jim Ryan: "I have made the decision to retire in March 2024. I've found it increasingly difficult to reconcile living in Europe and working in North America."

Kenichiro Yoshida: " PS5 is on track to become SIE's more successful console yet. I'm immensely grateful to Jim"


Yoshida, Totoki and Ryan share the same vision

Sony had no choice: it's a matter of life and death
Yep..
And when you listen to Layden, Kodera, and Ryan, you will see that their statements are very similar to what PlayStation has to do to remain competitive in this industry
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
"Thinks quoting a post can get him banned"

frodo-keep-your-secrets.gif


Have it your way but don't call out people then not show who you're trying to call out or if they even existed. That seems more like a bannable offence to me.

Nah, not worth it.

But I will still call out the people who called him a liar.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
What the fuck are you babblin’ about? Ninja Theory was never “Sony Cambridge” nor were they ever part of Sony.
You are arguing semantics. They were going bust without Sony Cambridge providing the Heavenly Sword Project, a project that the job vacancy adverts in develop magazine carried full Sony branding of SCEE(SCE?) and were projected as a first party development.

Saying they were independent while owning nothing of their output is factually correct, but disingenuous to the point I originally made that you are arguing against, and just adds validity to the point I made.
 

nial

Member
Retired from Sony or was shown the door?
According to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter, Ito’s resignation is due to reaching retirement age, and he will simultaneously resign from Sony Group as a whole. (Update 1:23 a.m.: A Sony representative has confirmed to Bloomberg that Ito’s retirement is due to his age.)
Layoffs don't really happen in Japan, btw. :)
Also, lets be honest. VR is not on the same level as the woman who nurtured syphon filter, last of us etc etc etc...I imagine the list goes on and on.
Did you miss the part where he also was behind both PS4 and PS5?
 
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Ronin_7

Member
I guess Sony main decided to take over SIE, that is used to be independent until recently.
They said they'll look into a new CEO after Jimbo leaves.

Jimbo only leaves in March next year.

But it's possible Sony saw SIE fumbling the bag somewhere and took action but seems doubtful because SIE is very healthy.
 
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