• Sony has announced that it will appoint two co-CEOs to head up the PlayStation division of the company.
• The co-CEOs will take charge of different aspects of the business from 1st June, following the retirement of Jim Ryan.
• Both CEOs will report to Sony CFO and SIE chairman, Hiroki Totoki.

In September of last year, Jim Ryan announced that he would be stepping down and retiring as president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). Now the Japanese company have announced who will be taking over from Ryan to head up the PlayStation side of the business, with two co-CEOs confirmed.

Effective from 1st June 2024, Hideaki Nishino and Hermen Hulst will be the co-CEOs of SIE.

Each CEO will be responsible for different areas of the business, with Nishino heading up the Platform Business Group and Hulst handling the Studio Business Group.

Both will be reporting to Hiroki Totoki, who has been serving as interim CEO of SIE, and will continue in his role as chairman of SIE, as well as being president, COO, and CFO of Sony Group Corporation.

“Sony Interactive Entertainment is a dynamic and growing business that delivers incredible entertainment experiences through the connection of content and technology. These two leaders will have clear responsibilities and will manage strategic direction to ensure the focus remains on deepening engagement with existing PlayStation users and expanding experiences to new audiences,” noted Totoki of the appointments.

While it remains to be seen what the first actions each CEO will be taking under their new roles will be, for Nishino it will likely be to oversee the rollout of a new console, with the Pro version of the PS5 rumoured for release later this year.

“We will continue to connect players and creators through world-class products, services, and technology. We always strive to grow our community even bigger with innovation in every area at Sony Interactive Entertainment,” he shared in a press statement.

As for Hulst, his most immediate task will be winning back some of the disgruntled PC players that PlayStation has alienated in recent weeks following its poorly chosen decision to tie access to ported titles to a PSN account.

“I am thrilled to lead the studio business group and continue to build on our success with PlayStation 5, while preparing for the future,” he expressed.

Much like the retiring Ryan, these two new CEOs have a lot of work ahead of them in order to deal with the growing influence and power of Microsoft and its Xbox division within the global gaming industry. It will therefore be interesting to see whether they choose to shake things up, or keep the status quo.