PlayStation head Jim Ryan is set to retire next month, and in an interview ahead of his departure, he expressed confidence in the leadership of interim Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO, Hiroki Totoki. Ryan is retiring after a 30-year tenure, with a few ideas in his mind to take his life “in a little different direction.”
Jim Ryan reflects upon his tenure at PlayStation
Speaking to Variety, Ryan said that he was grateful to work in an industry that wasn’t “boring,” but said that the PS5’s launch was the most challenging moment of his career. The console’s launch, which came in the midst of a pandemic, was quite a departure from Sony’s previous hardware launches.
“I was there at my dining-room table, head in my hands, wondering how we were going to do this,” he recalled, adding that no one could get into China, where most of PlayStation consoles are assembled. And to make matters worse, retail was completely closed.
Thankfully, those days are over and the PS5 is no longer in shortage. Ryan thinks PlayStation is in safe hands as long as its future leaders continue to “entertain, delight, and surprise” its community.
Ryan also shared some of his favorite games from each generation of PlayStation consoles: Ridge Racer, GTA 3, Uncharted 1, Spider-Man (2018), and God of War Ragnarok.
