Jim Ryan, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, is retiring in March after four years in the position and 30 years with the company.
Sony Interactive Entertainment is Sony’s gaming division. Sony Group Corporation president and COO Hiroki Totoki will temporarily fill the seat as the interim CEO while the company searches for a successor.
In his 30 years at Sony Interactive Entertainment, he was in the company from the first PlayStation console to the current generation, the PlayStation 5. He had several senior positions as he progressed in his career but also faced some controversies.
Who is Jim Ryan?
Jim Ryan was born in Kenton, Newcastle, and is around 55 years old. I say “around” because it’s interestingly not easy to pinpoint Ryan’s age, but most sources say he was born in 1968, making him around 55 years old in 2023.
He would’ve been 26 when he was hired in 1994 to work at Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe (SIEE). He later became executive vice president and co-chief operating officer, then was named president and CEO of SIEE 17 years after joining the company.
Over the years, he accumulated roles as the head of sales and marketing, and deputy president of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) in America while still maintaining his position as SIEE’s president.
He finally became the president and CEO of SIE in 2019.
When it comes to his involvement in the production of a new console such as the PlayStation 5, Jim Ryan answered in an interview for GQ Magazine in 2020 that he “will have an opinion on the commercial viability of certain ideas.”
Biggest moments as Sony Interactive’s president
The biggest success Ryan had as SIE President was the launch of the PS5 during the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Despite facing difficulties in the supply chain, which cut down how many consoles stores had in stock, the PS5 was still a huge success.
Jim Ryan was president when these PlayStation-exclusive games were released:
- The Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2
- Demon’s Souls Remake
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- God of War Ragnarök
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Horizon Forbidden West
He was involved in some controversy during his positions as well. In 2017, Ryan made a commentary about backward compatibility on PlayStation consoles, saying “PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?”
Last year, Ryan sent a company email to staff with a memo that combined comments about the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturned Roe v. Wade, abstaining from supporting abortion rights, with five paragraphs about his two cats’ first birthday and his desire to get a dog.
As SIE president, Ryan was part of the shift toward the view of games as a service, focusing more on multiplayer and monetized gaming.
Jim Ryan’s timeline at Sony Entertainment
- 1994: Joins Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe.
- 2000: PlayStation 2 is released.
- 2006: PlayStation 3 is released.
- 2011: Named president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe.
- 2013: PlayStation 4 is released.
- 2016: Became head of global sales and marketing of Sony Interactive Entertainment in America.
- 2018: Appointed deputy president of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
- 2019: Named president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
- 2020: PlayStation 5 is released.
- 2024: Jim Ryan retires.
