GOAT's Tier
If there were a Mount Rushmore for Sony: Masaru Ibuka, Akio Morita, Kaz Hirai and Jim Ryan would be the faces looking outward.
PS1 era: Jim Ryan built SCEE's infrastructure in Mainland Europe
He joined SCEE in 1994, a business with no employees in the continent
PS2 era: Return to profitability
Sony's gaming business reported record loss of 51 billion yen in FY00
Ken Kutaragi met up with SCEE's leadership team in Tokyo, Jim Ryan included, to find a solution
PS3 era: Kaz Hirai and SCEE saved Sony's gaming business
SCEE sold 40 million units across Europe and PAL regions. The PS3 outsold the Wii in the región
PS3 sales were in free fall in America and Japan, and
Xbox 360 held a lead over the PS3 by 1 million in Europe at the end of 2008
Jim Ryan was appointed as COO of SCEE in 2009, CEO in 2011, and the PS3 dominated the early 2010s
PS4 era: Kaz Hirai and SCEE saved Sony's Group
Moody's cuts Sony's credit rating to junk
SCEE sold 60 million units across Europe and PAL regions
PS4 market share over 90% in continental Europe
Jim Ryan was named Head of Global Sales & Marketing of SIE in 2016
Deputy President in 2018
President and CEO in 2019
PS5 era: Jim Ryan saved SIE, Sony's Group and changed gaming forever
The pandemic broke PS5 supply chain
Microsoft acquired ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard for $80 Billion
Sony's market value dropped by $20 billion in a day
Xbox Series was about to overtake the PS5 in the US lifetime sales (PS5 7.37 m / XBS 6.72 m, May 2022)
with the launch of Starfield looming
Yoshida and Totoki had blown Sony's load too early (2 trillion yen wasted on buybacks, dividends, Music and Pictures)
Sony really had its back up against the wall:
Jim Ryan decided to run SIE on razor-thin margins
He rebuilt his supply chain and sold PS5 at a loss
He increased spending on R&D, advertising, marketing deals and secured third party exclusives and partnerships in Asia
He delayed Activision Blizzard acquisition and kept CoD multiplatform.
And here we are:
Majority of Xbox games coming to PS5 at some point
Circana:
Nov 2022 GoW Ragnarok #2
Dec 2022 GoW Ragnarok #3
Jan 2023 Forspoken#7 / GoW Ragnarok #8
Feb 2023 The Last of Us: Part 1 #6
Mar 2023 The Last of Us: Part 1 #5
Jun 2023 FF XVI #2
Jul 2023 FF XVI #5
Oct 2023 Spider-Man 2 #1
Nov 2023 Spider-Man 2 #2
Dec 2023 Spider-Man 2 #5
Jan 2024 The Last of Us: Part II # 9 / Spider-Man 2 #10
Feb 2024 Helldivers II #1 / FFVII: Rebirth #2