In an early-morning announcement, Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed that starting next month they will begin make some institutional shifts — many of which include high-tier names and positions.
According to the press release, the primary major change is that Jim Ryan — SIE’s recently-appointed Deputy President — will as of April 1 have oversight of the sales and marketing divisions in SIEA, SIEE, and SIEJA as both Deputy President and Head of Global Sales and Marketing for SIE.
This, however, isn’t shifting his previously announced functions as Deputy President. Also mentioned in the statement is that recently-appointed President and CEO of SIE, John Kodera, will be the head executive for both America and Japan regions, whereas Ryan will be the head executive for Europe. With this shift in roles, the current SIEJA President Atsushi Morita will begin reporting directly to Kodera “to support management of cross-functional activities for the Japan Asia markets.”
Another prominent announcement is a shift in Shawn Layden’s position. Also beginning April 1, 2018, Shawn Layden will be taking a step back from his current role as SIEA president to “concentrate his focus” on SIE Worldwide Studios — the branch that oversees Sony’s owned game development studios within SIE. Layden originally took the role as SIEA’s (then SCEA) President after Jack Tretton stepped down in 2014.
Last but not least, Sony reaffirmed that Phil Rosenberg will be keeping his January appointment as Head of Global Publisher and Developer Relations; meanwhile, Hideaki Nishino — currently the Senior Vice President of Product Strategy & Management and Corporate Strategy at SIE — will be moving to his new role as Head of Platform Planning and Management effective April 1, 2018.
In the standard corporate press release style, Sony didn’t give much information about what is predicating the change outside “meeting the needs of the globally connected PS4 community” and the goal for “SIE to remain competitive and deliver on its commitment to make PlayStation the Best Place to Play.” However, it seems like this is part of broader and nuanced directional changes for Sony Interactive Entertainment. Far from indicative, the company’s foreshadowing of cutting PS3 and PlayStation Vita support for new PlayStation Plus games may give some evidence into the company’s emerging strategy.