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First Public Comments from Hideaki Nishino & Hermen Hulst as Newly Appointed PlayStation CEOs

Thick Thighs Save Lives

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
CEOBlogImage-053124-Blue.png

Since our founding, we have always strived to bring the best to our community and we take to heart Sony’s purpose to fill the world with emotion. We have pushed the boundaries of play by developing and launching hardware and content that brings more engaging experiences to more people across more devices in new and different ways for 30 years.

As of June 1, we have begun a new chapter in the history of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) and the PlayStation brand and family of products and services.
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New Leadership

We take the helm of Sony Interactive as the CEOs of the SIE Platform Business Group and the SIE Studios Business Group. We will continue to collaborate closely to bring the best of the Platform Business Group, responsible for technology, hardware, and network services closer to the Studios Business Group, responsible for first party content and IP expansion, with the goal of bringing exciting new experiences to our expanding community.

The PlayStation community is at the heart of everything we do. While we don’t always get things right, we always listen, learn, and grow and adapt. Thank you for being with us these past thirty years. We appreciate our community and we want to be transparent and share what we can about our exciting new organizational structure.
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We believe it’s never been more important for the leadership at SIE to step back, review our business holistically, and move forward with a new structure designed to bring out the best in the organization and deliver increasingly incredible experiences.

Below is the email we just sent to SIE employees worldwide. Thank you again for being on this journey with us and we look forward to amazing and delighting you for the next thirty years and beyond!
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Team,

As announced in May, we have been appointed CEO of SIE’s Platform Business Group and CEO of SIE’s Studio Business Group effective June 1.

We would like to take a moment to express our excitement for this new challenge. We have both been with the organization for many years and in that time, we’ve seen the industry, and SIE, expand by leaps and bounds.

Over the last 30 years we have consistently delivered the “Best Place to Play” and the size of our community of players and creators has grown tremendously. Without the passion of everyone at SIE, we could not deliver the exceptional quality of experiences through our platforms and content, and we should all be proud of where we are today. We are confident the entire team at SIE will continue to respond to player and creator needs and advance experiences for the future.

Play and storytelling are fundamental to society. People are exploring new ways to interact with games just as the passionate creators within our studios and our development partners craft incredibly rich stories and immersive new ways to play and build communities. The inspiring technical talent within our engineering teams drive the creation of cutting-edge hardware and services, empowering game developers with the very best tools and ensuring gamers have the very best experiences. We are one SIE and all of us are essential to delivering these amazing experiences and share in our continued success.

Expectations for us are high and we aim to drive improving profitability. Technology has fundamentally changed the way we make and play games and more people are gaming than ever before. Digital transformation has changed the way we engage with our customers and the way we work. We recognize the world is evolving and we must prepare ourselves for growth in this environment. Through collaboration and innovation, SIE excels in both content creation and technological advancements, continuously reimagining the gaming landscape and charting a course for the future of interactive entertainment.

While having two CEOs is a new structure for SIE, we know this will foster greater creativity and innovation as we look for new ways to grow the business, always keeping our community at the forefront. Two distinct Business Groups will enable us to have more rigor and clarity across our lines of business as SIE continues to grow and evolve. As we step into our new roles, we will take time to deepen our understanding about various aspects of the business. In the coming weeks you will receive information about a future Town Hall, and moving forward, we plan to communicate with you regularly.

This is a truly exciting time with great opportunities to expand the boundaries of play. This new structure will let us continue our journey as trailblazers in the entertainment industry which has always been fueled by our passionate workforce. Together as one organization, we will continue to harness that passion to bring amazing innovative experiences to our expanding community.

Thank you for being on this journey with us!

Hideaki Nishino, CEO, Platform Business Group

Hermen Hulst, CEO, Studio Business Group
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sonyinteractive.com

An Exciting Future at Sony Interactive Entertainment

Since our founding, we have always strived to bring the best to our community and we take to heart Sony’s purpose to fill the world with emotion. We have pushed the boundaries of play by developing and launching hardware and content that brings more engaging experiences to more people across...
sonyinteractive.com sonyinteractive.com
 
nial

nial

Member
Even if they're co-CEOs, Nishino seems to be the real successor of Ryan, as he's carrying most of the overseeing responsabilities of the company, with PlayStation Studios Global, PlayStation Productions, and Bungie being the only exceptions.
I hope both last a decade at the very least, the constant fluctuation of leaders at SIE has been a real issue since the very beginning (even though some of them get promoted to the main Sony Group, like Kazuo Hirai and Tsuyoshi Kodera).
 
S

SplunkyMunkey

Member
So far sop has been complete shite shows. I hope these co ceo's can listen to there consumers hope they can give us the wow factor back again with suprise buyouts etc etc
 
M

Moridianae

Member
SplunkyMunkey said:
So far sop has been complete shite shows. I hope these co ceo's can listen to there consumers hope they can give us the wow factor back again with suprise buyouts etc etc
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We don't need more industry consolidation via buyouts on any front.

Need only look at the disasters that's been Embracer and Microsoft, though Sony has had some bad news of their own, but nothing on the same scale as those two over the last year.
 
Loomy

Loomy

Banned
ViciousAgenda said:
Bring back Kaz Hirai.
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The man saved Sony Corp as a whole. He's earned his rest lol

solidus12 said:
The PlayStation community doesn’t want their games ported to pc.
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Does it matter where else those games are available to play? Does someone being able to play Ragnarok on PC almost 18 months after it became available to you on PS4/PS5 negatively affect you in any way?
 
S

SplunkyMunkey

Member
Moridianae said:
We don't need more industry consolidation via buyouts on any front.

Need only look at the disasters that's been Embracer and Microsoft, though Sony has had some bad news of their own, but nothing on the same scale as those two over the last year.
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Obviously they don't need publishers but could atleast buy some well known studios. I would enjoy if sony brought 3D realms of Embracer I love Mr duke and love to replay 3d duke and other classics
 
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Moriarty1889

Member
Hulst is not the right person for this position imo. He won’t be pushing for the types of games that have traditionally made Playstation consoles the best place to play. It remains to be seen how Nishino operates. Also, one has to wonder if they don’t agree on things, what will happen eventually. Might be a bit rough with this dual roll for leadership.
 
nial

nial

Member
Moriarty1889 said:
Also, one has to wonder if they don’t agree on things, what will happen eventually. Might be a bit rough with this dual roll for leadership.
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That's why each one is focusing on different groups; Nishino has no business in the creation of content, Hulst has no business in the development of hardware/software.
 
Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Moriarty1889 said:
Also, one has to wonder if they don’t agree on things, what will happen eventually. Might be a bit rough with this dual roll for leadership.
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Its pretty clear to me Hulst is one of the only guys left to feasibly manage their nearly 100% western studios at a senior level but they dont trust anyone in the west to be in charge of the money at this point. The other guy is the money dude so he probably has the veto power but no real clue what to do for the western market or creatively.
 
James Sawyer Ford

James Sawyer Ford

Member
nial said:
Even if they're co-CEOs, Nishino seems to be the real successor of Ryan, as he's carrying most of the overseeing responsabilities of the company, with PlayStation Studios Global, PlayStation Productions, and Bungie being the only exceptions.
I hope both last a decade at the very least, the constant fluctuation of leaders at SIE has been a real issue since the very beginning (even though some of them get promoted to the main Sony Group, like Kazuo Hirai and Tsuyoshi Kodera).
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In terms of headcount, Hermen has more responsibility. And if PS studios fails, PlayStation fails (imho). It’s at the heart of their business. The hardware commodity seems hard to screw up at this point, in comparison.

Two very different roles though. It will be interesting to see how much feedback PS studios can give to the hardware teams - like, if Nishino wants PS6 to be both a handheld standalone device or a premium console that can both play the same ps6 games at a large power/fdelity gap, would that require buy-in by Hermen and his studios?
 
James Sawyer Ford

James Sawyer Ford

Member
nial said:
These takes are surely something. Seriously, why do people feel so strongly about him? I never felt commenting about Hulst due to knowing so little of the kind of games WWS would produce under his tenure, yet some of you seem to hate him A LOT.
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It’s just misguided projection against a perceived focus on GaaS when all he is doing is making PS studios more aligned with the SP:MP split of their consumers and no longer ignoring GaaS entirely.

He has not forced existing studios to make MP games, almost all the GaaS initiatives have been wholly done through acquisitions (Bungie, Firewalk, Haven).

He’s also continued the partnership with Kojima, including a future PS6 metal gear type game.

Not much to hate at all
 
Killjoy-NL

Killjoy-NL

Banned
Some of these comments remind me of those who were claiming Jim Ryan didn't know how to run the company, but then Ryan launched PS5 through a pandemic and made it the most profitable Playstation gen to date, all while hammering the final nail in Xbox' coffin with the 10-year COD deal.

The current Playstation leadership have reitterated what Layden and Ryan also said.
Thinking they're somehow going to run Playstation into the ground is as delusional as thinking Xbox will make comeback. Lol
 
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Hudo

Hudo

Member
I wonder if each wrote one word after the other while writing this email. Without knowing what the other one wanted to write.
 
Tiago Rodrigues

Tiago Rodrigues

Member
SplunkyMunkey said:
So far sop has been complete shite shows. I hope these co ceo's can listen to there consumers hope they can give us the wow factor back again with suprise buyouts etc etc
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Considering PS5 hardware sales, their games etc, seems like they way they are promoting things is working.

Helldivers 2 became one of Sony's biggest games ever with like 2 SOP showings and not much more. And no E3 as well, imagine that.
 
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