Shuhei Yoshida new PlayStation studio president

After 15 years at Sony, Phil Harrison stepped down as president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios in late February. After a week of speculation, Infogrames SA confirmed that Harrison would undertake the challenging role of president and director general at its subsidiary, Atari.

Sony Computer Entertainment announced today that, effective immediately, SCE WWS has a new president in Shuhei Yoshida, who was formerly senior vice president. Yoshida is certainly no stranger to the PlayStation business, having been with SCE since 1993, as one of its initial team members. In 1996, Yoshida assumed the role of product development producer, and then in 2000 was appointed vice president of product development for Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Yoshida will have big shoes to fill, and not just because Harrison is a man of tall stature. He'll be responsible for setting the global product strategy and managing the development operations of 16 studios in five countries.

Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of SCE, said, "Under the leadership of Yoshida, who has [a] proven track record in managing creative talent, SCE WWS will accelerate the software development for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable platforms and vigorously expand the gaming market."