Breaking; Jim Ryan steps down!

Well this came out of nowhere…. Bloomberg are reporting that Jim Ryan has stepped down as CEO of PlayStation.

Thoughts?

Do we think the Acti deal had something to do with his decision? What will his legacy be, and who will step up now?

The next guy couldn't possibly be worse, right? Right???

But he was doing such a good job.........

Will be interesting to see if the direction of PS changes under new leadership.

A lot of people disagreed with his challenge to MS/Activision and the move to live service games.

Hard to say what his legacy will be.

The PS5 does not seem to have the same impact as the PS4 did, and the First Party output of Sony is nowhere near as notable as it was under Kodera or Andrew House. The best Sony first party game under his watch was TLOU2. I think both Kodera and Andrew House managed SIE better.

@sealionact: this is absolutely shocking. After all that crying and whining to regulators, all that bending over, I never thought Sony would fire his unlikable ass.

It's the opposite of Uncle Phil, who got promoted to president of the Xbox and gaming division.

Definitely agree with this.

PS3/PS4 had multiple games every year, it seems Jim Ryan is doing the same thing Zenimax did before MS bought them which is have all of their developers working on live services or heavily monetized games.

His legacy will be failure. Hopefully the next guy will understand what an absolute layup it is to bring Bloodborne remastered to PC and PS5.

Needs to be said that it’s nothing official at this point, but it’s all over the news.

I wonder if this had to do with the handling of Activision Blizzard. Maybe a forced retirement? All the fighting ended up just getting private information publicly exposed and in the end it was for nothing as they accepted the 10 year deal when it was all said and done.

He's still there until March 2024 so we'll probably have to wait far longer for that.

Yup, it’s now official.

"Sony Group Corporation and Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) today announced that SIE President and CEO Jim Ryan has made the decision to retire in March 2024 after almost thirty years with the PlayStation business. To support Mr. Ryan in his transition, Sony Group Corporation President, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki will assume the role of Chairman of SIE effective October 2023. Effective April 1, 2024, Mr. Totoki will be appointed Interim CEO of SIE while he continues his current role at Sony Group Corporation. Mr. Totoki will work closely with Sony Group Corporation Chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida and the management team of SIE to help define the next chapter of PlayStation’s future, including the succession of the SIE CEO role."

Doesn’t exactly speak about gratitude from Sony. This is corp talk for they fired his butt.

What the **** took so long.

F for Jimbo. FWIW, Cows might now celebrate cos the next big wig might not bring their exclusives to PC anymore.

Not really cos the PC releases still make Sony money.

Not really. The PS5 is successful and the PS4 did very well during his time as CEO despite some of his mistakes.

Cows are rekkd. Where's randy and daredevils2k at??

I’ve never seen the brand so aimless. No vision. No future. No direction. How the PS brand is so successful with consumers is beyond me. But maybe the next exec will worry more about the growth of the PlayStation brand instead of just interfering with the growth of others. Like kvally said, I don’t know why it took this long

I don't have anything against the guy, but my hope is the next CEO cares more about Sony's Japanese games. PC ports of The Last Guardian, Bloodborne, and Shadow of the Colossus would be neat.

Eh, he took over in what, 2019? PS4 was already a massive success by then. PS5 has been doing well commercially, but they could have had a chimp in charge these last few years and that thing would still sell.

@ghostofgolden: the ps5 is hot garbage. I also don't understand what people even play on it. It's literally selling off hype, nothing more. The Xbox is vastly superior in all aspects as a gaming device and MS has slammed it out of the park this gen. Maybe gamers haven't realized but at some point they will.

I've owned a ps3 and a ps4 and a vita, but ps5 is hot trash. I'm not sure I'll buy a ps5 this gen, not unless spiderman 2 and wolverine pulls off a miracle.

@blaznwiipspman1: What? What the hell? This is great news, nobody liked him.

let down by ps gamers not buying exclusives so he had to give them to pc,most of them were poorly optimised,lied constantly and got his arse handed to him off phil spencer in the ABK deal.

Enjoy retirement, Jimbo.

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The one thing I'll say is ... be careful for what you wish for. Jimbo was still very much a traditionalist. The next person may very well accelerate all the things people "hate".

Meh, he was so boring. Really missed the Jack Trenton days when they did fun E3s / showcases.

Props to those who called it, including some cows. I didn’t think it would happen.

Best news of the day. Dude was such a fucking ass clown.

Sadly for Jim Ryan, he was nowhere near as good of a CEO as both Jack Tretton & Shawn Ladden were the people that push Sony's 1st-party games and kept Sony on top. Jim Ryan will only be remember as an afterthought and he doesn't have that gaming enthusiasm as other people like Phil does.

I really hope we get someone who’s a gamer at this position…and here’s hoping that next year’s PS Showcase be filled with 1st-party games…and more PC ports as well.

I hope they bring back Shawn Layden or Jack Tretton

THey were big proponents of investing in smaller titles even if they didnt make money, its what made the PS4 special.

PS5 has none of that and is only investing in AAA and live services.

agreed. legit bored of my ps5 and the future looks bleak. does not feel like the horse to bet on this gen. last gen very different

Definitely going out with a whimper, and not a bang. PS5 is thus far has been a disappointment it seems. Little to no reason to own one.

Take that as you will. Had some good times under Ryan, though, can't say they were all bad.

Yeah he wasn't great, not really pro-gamer from what I've read.

Not easy being a white dude working for a Japanese company, though.

Yeah, those two were the peak of Sony tbh, banger after banger! Not this live service BS we're getting now.

My answer to all those questions is, who cares?

Well holy ****! Was certainly not expecting that. Good riddance though. Hope the door doesn’t hit his ass on the way out. 😅

Let's hope the next CEO is like Shawn Layden. GaaS games suck.

I am fine with him leaving can't say I like the whole GaaS strategy and PC ports. Hope the new CEO is more escentric and love niche games.

Fantastic news but... who knows who will follow. Don Mattrick? 🤣

2 bombs in one day lmao. First Damian Lillard is traded to the Bucks and now this 😂

Sony isn’t what it use to be…I miss the PS4 days. Miss the PS3 days even more…

PS4 years were so much better. Good riddance.

The PS2 days were the last great ones for me

Wish him all the best.

Ohh man yeah...probably my favorite console of all time. God of War, Bully, Midnight Club, Vice City, Kingdom Hearts, I could go on and on

Definitely made some odd choices. Ultimately guess this isn't really surprising.

PS4 was the most disappointing generation I've experienced, and I couldn't care less about PS5. I've always hated that dude. I don't know how much control he actually had, but everything from state of plays, to the PS5, their game output, him saying "why would anyone play this?" in reference to old games, to his stupid face... I hate it all.

Hopefully his replacement isn't worse, but at this point I would try anything.

He couldn't handle the SW pressure anymore, I understand.

We are assholes.

I wonder if this is one of the reasons Playstation has been near radio silent on a games roadmap.

Thank God. Just a bad fit for the job. Hopefully some sweeping changes are made with new leadership.

@sealionact: Maybe he just wants to live the quiet life? Maybe since PS is on a high, he want to retire whole they're on top.

I don't think MS or Nintendo did anything to prompt this.

Good. Playstation has been so bland under his tenure.

Sony is leaving console gaming.😎

"puts tin foil hat" I knew it! he is a Microsoft undercover agent and now that he has been discovered needs to run for his life.

Well, on a serious note, i don't remember anything outstanding in his time as CEO apart from the rise of prices about everything Playstation related, so, I definitely won't shed a tear.