Game news The new captain of PlayStation and PS5 is him, but for how long?
After the surprise announcement of Jim Ryan’s resignation as CEO of PlayStation in 2023, it was imperative for Sony to appoint his successor. A name finally emerged from internal discussions and it is well known.
While Jim Ryan announced he was leaving PlayStation in September 2023, Hiroki Totoki has been appointed to take over as CEO. However, although he has held this role since April 1, he is, in fact, only interim president, while Sony’s top executives elect a permanent successor to Ryan.
Long live the king
Officially CEO since Monday, Hiroki Totoki already visited PlayStation studios last month before expressing his point of view on the future of Sony’s video game branch. On the occasion of the last financial report, Totoki declared that he would like to see the company “be more aggressive” For improve PlayStation profits. According to him, this objective can only be achieved by focusing on PC ports of the brand’s console titles.
In the past, we wanted to popularize consoles, and the main goal of a first-party title was to make the console popular. However, such a game can be developed on multiple platforms, thereby boosting its operating profits. This is something we need to work on proactively. -Hiroki Totoki
If this position will please PC players who will undoubtedly finally be able to play PlayStation exclusives, console players will perhaps not have more titles specific to their machine. This double-edged strategy would however be the means “improve margin performance” according to the new CEO.
Nice curriculum
If the mandate of big boss Jim Ryan was, over nearly 5 years, really impressive (notably with his management of the launch of the PS5 in the middle of a pandemic of Covid-19), Totoki’s focus will therefore be more focused on Sony’s stable and improving revenues. During the handover, Totoki thanked Ryan, declaring that he had “intensively discussed the evolution of the Sony group, bringing more success to online gaming services”.
Before his new position, Totoki was able to guide Sony through complex financial landscapes, alongside Kenichiro Yoshida, general manager of the Sony group. His choices and decisions will guide PlayStation for some time, after the difficult times that the company has experienced, notably the dismissal of nearly 900 people on February 27.