Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) have announced “significant” management and structural changes in Engineering and Finance.
On their official blog, SIE reconfirmed that Deuty President John (Tsuyoshi) Kodera will be moving to the Sony Group Corporation. There he will handle “the digital transformation strategy for all of Sony Group, information technology, and information security.”
Kodera had aided SIE in 2011, helping form Sony Network Entertainment, and led teams developing PlayStation Network’s structure, the PlayStation 4 and 5 “user experience,” and “digital innovations too numerous to count.”
Head of Platform Planning and Management Hideaki Nishino has been promoted to SVP, Platform Experience. He will report directly to President and CEO Jim Ryan, and will “oversee Network Engineering and Operations, R&D, Design, Data Strategy and Operations in addition to managing Product and Platform development.”
VP, Global Third-Part Relations Michael Pattison is also being promoted, to SVP, Platform Planning and Management. While based in London, Pattison is described as over eight years being “instrumental in building our current strong portfolio of business partnerships on PS4 and PS5 and has been a strong advocate for the Indie development community.” He will report to Nishino.
On the financial side; Deputy President and CFO Kazuhiko Takeda will be retiring June 30th, after working at Sony for nearly 40 years. He specifically joined SIE in his aformentioned role in 2018.
VP of Sony Corporation, Senior General Manager of the Business Development Office Lin Tao will now join SIE as SVP, Finance, Corproeate Development and Strategy. Tao has give years experience with PlayStation, and seven with Sony’s mobile phone businesses in Tokyo and Europe.
She will also report directly to Ryan starting July 1st, and will “oversee all aspects of financial management and corporate planning and strategy.” She has also been appointed as Director and Deputy President.
Finally, the other new executives assigned working with Ryan include Masayasu Ito (now Representative Director and Deputy President), and Takeshi Shibata (now Director).
This is not the only major changes coming to PlayStation. In February of this year, Sony Japan Studio was rumored to be “winding down“ games development, with the vast majority of developers being let go. SIE later confirmed the developer was to be “re-organized into a new organization on April 1.”
