Jim Ryan

Bend Studio appears to be working on a live service game.

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While he may not be as well known as, say, Jim Ryan, longtime PlayStation fans will no doubt recognize the name Gio Corsi. As PlayStation’s former senior director of third party production, Corsi spearheaded a lot of initiatives – he was particularly noted as a booster of the PS Vita and was responsible for bringing a lot of Japanese Vita titles to a worldwide audience. He also was responsible for jumpstarting interest in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise worldwide after the series initially kind of sputtered out in the West.

So, we’re in the second year of an ongoing wave of layoffs in the video game industry. If you paid attention to a broader level something like this has also been happening in the tech industry as a whole, but for video games, it’s meant hundreds of very talented and valuable people losing their jobs.

After Google engineers hacked the PlayStation Portal to run PSP games natively, Sony fixed the bug, removing this unintended functionality from its latest handheld. The fix had a helping hand from engineers Andy Nguyen and Calle Svensson when the former said they «responsibly reported the issues to PlayStation,» allowing Sony to find and patch the bug.

Sony president Hiroki Totoki will today step into his new role as PlayStation CEO following Jim Ryan's retirement after a more than 30-year tenure at the company. While retaining his duties across the wider business, Totoki's main objective will be to aid the search for a true successor to Jim Ryan while defining «the next chapter of PlayStation's future».

Jim Ryan shared one last thing about PlayStation, that was clearly for the fans.

Hiroki Totoki officially takes control of PlayStation as their interim CEO, starting today, April 1, 2024.

Sony president, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki officially begins his role as interim CEO of PlayStation today.

Sony hasn’t really missed a beat in its transition from the PS4 to the PS5 where hardware sales are concerned, with the company’s current-gen console consistently selling solid numbers, and though it’s highly unlikely that it will manage to beat the PS2’s lifetime sales total of 160 million units, outgoing PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan says that the PS5 is still very much on track to become the company’s “most successful console ever” by other metrics.

Today marks the end of Jim Ryan's 30-year tenure at Sony Interactive Entertainment. Having climbed the ladder of the company all the way to the top, his five-year stint as CEO has now drawn to a close, with Hiroki Totoki temporarily taking over until a permanent replacement is found. Speaking on the latest Official PlayStation Podcast, Ryan has one last interview, in which he comments on the platform's evolution, his career, and his thoughts on the PS3 boomerang controller. It's worth a listen.

A stunning digital tribute to outgoing PlayStation bigwig Jim Ryan is now available for those who wish to celebrate the suit's legacy — in style. Players can pick up the collectable, posed like a modern-day Napoleon, through the digital platform PlayStation Stars; all you have to do is play a game Ryan «championed» during his tenure.

Jim Ryan, now retired CEO and President of Sony Interactive Entertainment, proudly shared that over 160 million PlayStation 2 consoles have been sold since the system first came out. Ryan was interviewed on the official PlayStation Podcast, where he talked about his experiences with the company and its direction for the future. He joined Sony in 1994, and oversaw the release of many products, including the PlayStation 2.

Jim Ryan has said that the PlayStation 5 is on track to be Sony’s most successful console “across multiple vectors.”

Outgoing Sony boss Jim Ryan has claimed that the PlayStation 2 has now sold 160 million units.

Outgoing Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO, Jim Ryan, has revealed that the PlayStation 2 has continued to be the best-selling console for the company. Ryan revealed in a recent episode of the official PlayStation Podcast that the PS2 has sold 160 million units worldwide.

PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan is working his final day as the head of Sony's gaming giant, as the executive is set to retire from the company on March 29. Ryan was promoted to the position in 2019 and led PlayStation through some of its most successful years.

Smilegate Barcelona seems to have closed down.

PlayStation has released a digital Jim Ryan bobblehead to commemorate the exec's time at the company.

A digital Jim Ryan bobblehead has been released to celebrate his career at PlayStation.

PlayStation's former head of internal game production Connie Booth, who departed Sony last October after nearly three decades, has joined EA to to oversee its action-RPG portfolio.

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says he sees "consolidation to be the enemy of creativity," as the company's outgoing boss Jim Ryan shares his enthusiasm for Microsoft's Call of Duty deal with PlayStation.

Jim Ryan made an interesting new statement in relation to the Call of Duty franchise, and really, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard King.

Footage of a purportedly cancelled co-operative live-service Spider-Man game from developer Insomniac — titled Spider-Man: The Great Web — has appeared online following last year's ransomware attack targeting the developer and its employees.

Sony has today confirmed around 900 PlayStation employees — or around eight per cent of its workforce — are being laid off in order to «future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead». As a result of the downsizing, PlayStation's own London Studio is being closed completely and Firesprite will be reduced in size. The staff reductions will also hit Naughty Dog, Insomniac Games, and Guerrilla Games. Some unannounced games have been cancelled.

It should have been a victorious few weeks for Sony Group Corp.'s PlayStation 5. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, arguably the console's first must-have exclusive title, has been released to rave reviews. Microsoft Corp. has just announced it will allow games previously exclusive to its Xbox machine on rival platforms, tantamount to an admission of defeat in the console wars. And reports swirled that a successor to Nintendo Co.'s Switch is still more than a year away. 

Earlier this week, 900 individuals were laid off from Sony PlayStation. The affected studios included well-known developers Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, and Guerrilla Games, with PlayStation London shutting down entirely.

Insomniac Games has announced that it is also being affected by layoffs at Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) and PlayStation Studios. 

It's a distressing time for the gaming industry. Yesterday, Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed it would be laying off a huge number of employees across the globe and closing a significant studio «in its entirety».

Sony Interactive Entertainment is cutting around 900 members of staff from its workforce.

Japan's Sony is cutting about 900 jobs at its PlayStation unit and shutting a studio in London, it said on Tuesday as the videogame industry struggles to recover from a post-pandemic slump.

PlayStation has announced layoffs across multiple studios, continuing a troubling trend for the gaming sector in 2024. The move is just the latest set of mass layoffs the gaming industry has faced in the past year. With PlayStation's latest announcement, it appears this trend is unlikely to slow down in the months ahead.

A new Twisted Metal project has reportedly been cancelled as part of today's layoffs across Sony Interactive Entertainment. The Twisted Metal game, which was said to be a live service, was rumoured to be in developed at Firesprite, a Sony-owned studio that is affected by today's layoffs.

Another day, another videogame company jettisoning a large number of people "who have contributed to our success" so as to position themselves for growth in the face of "challenging times". Today it's Sony's turn with the axe: the PlayStation publisher have announced plans to reduce their global workforce by about 8% or 900 people, so as "to future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead", in the words of outgoing president and CEO Jim Ryan.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced today that the corporation will cut around 8% of its workforce, or more than 900 jobs. Also, in the announcement, they stated that PlayStation Studios London will be closing.

Sony has announced mass layoffs across PlayStation Studios with 8% or around 900 people set to be made redundant across their worldwide studios. This will include the complete shutdown of London Studio, while Naughty Dog, Insomniac and other studios are affected as well.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is laying off around 900 workers, or 8% of the company, outgoing president and CEO Jim Ryan said in a news release published on Tuesday. Employees from all regions — North America; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; Japan; and Asia-Pacific — are impacted by the cuts, including several PlayStation development studios. London Studio, the in-house team that created the SingStar series, will close entirely, Ryan said.

Sony is to lay off 900 people, equating to eight percent of its workforce. This reduction will see PlayStation Studios' London Studio close in its entirety, plus reductions made within Sony's Firesprite studio. There will also be reductions in various functions across SIE in the UK

PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst has confirmed that some projects have been cancelled in the wake of layoffs across Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Sony is the latest company in the video game industry to announce massive layoffs in 2024. We’ve learned that Sony Interactive Entertainment is letting go of about 900 people across several studios; PlayStation’s London Studio will shut down as a result.

PlayStation is set to lay off around 900 employees worldwide.

Sony Interactive Entertainment will lay off about 900 employees across the globe, or about eight percent of its total workforce, the company announced. London Studio, which was developing an online cooperative combat game set in a fantasy London for PlayStation 5, will also close in its entirety as a result of the lay offs.

Less than two months into 2024, it’s already been a brutal year for the games industry, with a number of companies having been hit with mass layoffs, resulting in thousands of jobs being cut across the industry. PlayStation has, sadly, now joined that worryingly ever-growing list.

Sony is laying off 900 people, around 8% of its gaming workforce, outgoing president Jim Ryan has announced.

Sony is laying off around 900 employees in its PlayStation division, the company announced on Tuesday. The cuts will impact 8% of the division’s global workforce, as Sony becomes the latest company to announce major cuts in recent weeks and months. Sony also announced that it will be closing its London Studio in the U.K.

PlayStation has announced the intention to lay off roughly 8% of its current staff, affecting employees at multiple first-party studios around the world.

PlayStation is laying off 900 workers. As part of this, it will shut down its London Studio entirely, likely cancelling its announced new IP. There will also be layoffs at other Sony-owned studios in the UK, including Firesprite studio, which it acquired in 2021.

The PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S both launched at quite a hectic time in the world. We were dealing with a pandemic, a worldwide hit that forced so many changes and shutdowns. Fortunately, we’re past that and can look back at what we’ve learned both in terms of the virus and how companies can rely more on remote work to continue keeping productive. Jim Ryan, the CEO who stepped down from PlayStation, had the chance to speak more about this time with Variety.

In September 2023, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan announced his departure. He will be succeeded by Sony’s current chief operating officer Hiroki Totoki, who Ryan expresses full confidence in. In an interview with Variety, he lists his favorite titles from each PlayStation generation for a little fun. Can’t say it’s a question that doesn’t pique my curiosity.

Jim Ryan has shared what may be his final interview as CEO of PlayStation.

Sony president and PlayStation chairman Hiroki Totoki has said Bungie could be better at assuming responsibility for its development timelines.

Sony’s most recent earnings report wasn’t a great one for the previously-strong-seeming PlayStation brand. As we reported, Sony downgraded their fiscal year 2024 (which runs from the beginning of April 2023 to the end of March 2024) target for PS5 sales from 25 million to 21 million. They also admitted that no major AAA franchise entries will be published over the course of this coming fiscal year. Needless to say, this wasn’t received that well, partly leading to a plunge in Sony stock that subtracted an estimated $10 billion from the Japanese company’s value.

Hiroki Totoki has a lot of titles at Sony; in addition to being president, COO, and CFO of the corporation, he's more recently stepped into the role of PlayStation chairman as Jim Ryan winds down his time at the company. He's among the company's top dogs, then — but what does he make of Sony Interactive Entertainment since he became more directly involved? Speaking on a recent earnings call, he seems happy with PlayStation's first-party teams, but has some concerns about the business side of things.

Convention season is always a fun time for cosplay, and last year we visited MCM Birmingham, where we were blown away with the calibre of cosplays at the convention. With so many amazing costumes to look at, we somehow managed to snap some pics of incredible cosplays from gaming properties that we're here to share with you.

The current chairman of Sony has revealed that the company plans to "proactively" work on multiplatform releases as part of an "aggressive" growth plan.

Sony president and PlayStation chairman Hiroki Totoki has spoken of the opportunities available in its approach to releasing first-party games on PC, saying it's «proactively [working] on» bringing more titles to other platforms as part of an «aggressive» profit margin growth plan.

Sony won’t release any big, first-party, exclusive PlayStation 5 games in any of its existing franchises this year — or before the end of its next financial year in March 2025, the company admitted in its latest financial report.

Sony's new chairman has been in his role for four months now, and his early impression is that PlayStation's studios need to understand business a bit better.

Sony President, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki was asked about his assessment of the company’s PlayStation division. He did not mince words.

PlayStation’s new chairman and Sony’s current president was asked for his early assessment working directly with the games business during an earnings call on Wednesday, and told listeners he believes its studios can improve “when it comes to business”.

will follow Amanda Waller's Task Force X, a team comprised of some of the DC Universe's rogues as they battle DC's primary superhero team, the Justice League. The title takes place in the same universe as Rocksteady Games' games, but unlike those titles, is a third-person shooter that can be played solo with AI teammates, or with up to four players in online co-op. With the game's focus on online co-op, some are likely wondering if players will be restricted to playing with those on their chosen gaming platform, or if will have crossplay functionality.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Guild Wars publisher NCSoft's long-rumoured Horizon: Zero Dawn spin-off is a full-blown MMORPG codenamed Project Skyline, will run on Unreal Engine 5, and is coming to PC and mobile with a PS5 release still TBC, according to a brace of job listings and CVs fished from the post-apocalyptic robo-wilds of yonder internet. Also according to the said listings, it won’t be out for a while.

With the year almost behind us, it's hard not to look back at 2023 with conflicted feelings. It was a fantastic year for gamers at home with great tentpole releases from PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo, and some excellent indies, too. For years to come, we will all likely argue that 2023 was one of the best – if not the best – year for games. But it was also a terrible year for the people who make games, with more than 10,000 developers laid off, studios closed, and more. 

By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

Another year is almost over, and as the last days of December wind down, we're taking a look back at what's been a monumental year for the video game, entertainment, and tech industries.

Sales of Sony's PlayStation 5 have crossed 50 million units, the Japanese electronics giant said, pointing to "strong momentum" this year for its flagship gaming console. The PS5 was launched in November 2020, with the world in the grip of the Covid pandemic, and its sales initially suffered because of widespread supply chain problems and a global chip shortage.

PS5's November 2023 was Sony's biggest November for PlayStation sales to date, Sony Interactive Entertainment's Head of Global Business has said.

PlayStation 5 has surpassed 50 million units sold through to consumers, manufacturer Sony Interactive Entertainment announced.

By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

PS5 sales have surpassed 50 million units globally, Sony has today announced.

PlayStation 5 has now sold over 50m consoles worldwide since its launch in November 2020.

Sony announced Wednesday that it has sold 50 million units of its PlayStation 5 console since the system launched three years ago. That puts the PS5 on pace with the PlayStation 4, which also hit the 50 million sales mark in 2016, just three years after Sony’s last-gen console launched in 2013.

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has claimed that PlayStation 5 sales have surpassed 50 million units worldwide.

Playstation CEO Jim Ryan has recently sold a certain number of shares of his stock in the Sony.

PlayStation 5 has sold 50 million consoles worldwide, Sony has announced.

Following the devastating cyber security attack that targeted Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 developer Insomniac Games, leaked slides have revealed Sony’s internal concern at competitor Microsoft’s emerging strategy following its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

A ransomware group hacked Insomniac last week and threatened to sell the data it stole to the highest bidder if Sony didn't pay $2 million in Bitcoin. Seven days later, 1.3 million files are now public, totaling 1.67 terabytes, including the personal information of employees.

The Last of Us multiplayer game has been cancelled. In a blog post, developer Naughty Dog confirmed that the development on the promised online experience within the post-apocalyptic universe, which it was calling ‘The Last of Us Online,' has been stopped. The astonishing news comes just a month after game director Vinit Agarwal assured fans that the project was still happening despite the numerous reported setbacks, including the laying off of 25 employees. One can't simply release a live-service game into the wild and expect it to thrive. It desperately needs post-launch content for years to come, indirectly impacting a studio which is otherwise known for creating memorable single-player narratives.