In a leadership shakeup at Sony and PlayStation, Hideaki Nishino has been named sole CEO and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). Sony announced on Tuesday that Nishino was appointed co-CEO of SIE in June 2024, responsible for the platform business group, and will take up his new position on April 1, 2025. The leadership shuffle means Hermen Hulst, who was appointed co-CEO of PlayStation last year and is responsible for the studio business group, will no longer share SIE leadership with Nishino, but will report to him. However, Sony said Hurst will continue to lead PlayStation Studios.
“This marks an evolution aimed at maximizing synergies announced by SIE in May 2024, with Nishino’s appointment as CEO of the Platforms Business Group, effective June 1, 2024, and the appointment of Hermen Hulst as CEO of the Studio Business Group,” the company said in a press release.
Sony Group appoints new CEO
The parent company of PlayStation also announced that Hiroki Totoki, president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Sony Group Corporation, will resign as chairman of SIE starting on April 1 and will instead serve as president and CEO of the entire company. In addition, Lin Tao, who currently serves as SIE’s senior vice president of finance, corporate strategy and development, will be promoted to chief financial officer of Sony Group.
“I am extremely honored to take the helm of Sony Interactive Entertainment. Technology and creativity are two of our greatest strengths, and we will continue to focus on developing experiences that provide entertainment for everyone,” said Nishino.
“We will continue to grow the PlayStation community in new ways, such as IP expansion, while delivering the best in technological innovation. I would like to thank Hermen for his expertise and leadership as he continues to serve as CEO of the Studio Business Group. I am extremely grateful to the PlayStation community and their continued support, and I am very excited about the future,” he added.
SIE leadership reshuffle
While Hulst will continue to serve as CEO of Studio Business Group, overseeing the development, publishing and business operations of SIE’s first-party content, the reshuffle is seen as a downgrade for Nishino since he has full responsibility for SIE.
The leadership change may be a result of Sony’s recent failures, particularly the failure of first-party hero shooter Concord. According to reports, Hulst, who is the CEO of SIE’s studio business group, is strongly supporting the game internally.
Concord is Sony’s biggest live services bet, with the company reportedly spending over $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,670 crore) on the game’s development. Concorde is said to cost $400 million (approximately Rs. 3,341 crore) to manufacture. Sony even ended up acquiring Concord developer Firewalk Studios in April 2023.
However, when the game launched in August 2024, there was almost zero player interest, with a peak number of concurrent players on Steam of only 697, and it was removed from the PlayStation and PC storefronts and offline less than two weeks after release.
In October, Sony announced it was shutting down Firewalk Studios and shutting down Concord permanently, admitting that its multiplayer games weren’t hitting targets.
“The PvP first-person shooter genre is an evolving competitive space, and unfortunately we did not achieve our goals with this game. We will learn from the lessons learned from Concord and continue to improve our live service capabilities for future growth in this space,” Hulst said at the time.
Hulst and Nishino were announced as co-CEOs of SIE in June 2024, responsible for the company’s studio business group and platform business group, respectively. “While having two CEOs is a new structure for SIE, we know it will foster greater creativity and innovation as we look for new ways to grow our business, always keeping our community at the forefront. As SIE continues to grow and evolve, two distinct business groups will allow us to bring greater rigor and clarity across our business,” SIE employees were told in an email at the time.
