![Connie Booth](https://images.pushsquare.com/ccdbbd40d22b8/connie-booth.900x.jpg)
Veteran executive and PlayStation Head of Internal Production Connie Booth has officially parted ways with Sony. And although the reasons and circumstances surrounding the departure remain maddeningly unclear, we at least now have confirmation of the rumours that began swirling last weekend.
In a statement provided to Axios, PlayStation thanked Booth for her hard work and many achievements, noting that she "helped drive the success PlayStation Studios is experiencing today and her passion in fostering an environment where a team's creative vision could fully flourish has left a positive impact on many game developers." Booth's career at PlayStation began in 1996, and her list of credited work is seriously impressive reading.
"We're thankful for Connie's numerous contributions to the company and wish her the best in future endeavours."
As has been suggested, it's likely that Booth simply needed a change of scenery or is ready for a break from what is a notoriously demanding industry. We'd echo PlayStation's sentiment and wish her all the best in future endeavours, and thank her for her tireless work in shaping our beloved platform.
[source axios.com]
Comments 29
Oh my what a surprise the guy made a mountain out of a molehill.
This is a massive loss for PlayStation. Her prowess when it came to managing the game production pipeline is legendary. I was hoping she would be one of the people considered to lead PlayStation after Ryan leaves.
Scott Rohde holds the same position that Connie did.
https://twitter.com/rohdescott?lang=en
When you start moving your headquarters from Japan to California US. Not good.
David Jaffe seems to have emails from Sony saying she was fired
Not gonna lie, this is concerning as she could be considered one of the founders of PlayStation and the fact that nobody wants to say why she’s going out may point that the rumors about Sony firing her are true.
Damn she got an amazing list of credits
Hopefully her departure does not provide reason for her to become involved with the new series of Fawlty Towers - a doomed project if ever there was one.
No one knows the reason for her departure. Maybe she wanted to go or maybe she screwed up so badly behind the scenes that she had to go. Just because she worked there from the beginning doesn't mean she can't make big mistakes for the company. I just hope it's the first and she left because she wanted to.
Thank you and good luck.
@PSPortalRules seeing how close the Japanese arm of PlayStation came to destroying the company with the ps3 moving the headquarters to California was a very smart idea.
My boss told us out of the blue at end of day yesterday that he was leaving.
This morning he's gone.
We didn't ask him why he left because that's his business. Something about too many years in the same place.
He kept it quiet because he didn't want the team distracted and he was training his replacement behind the scenes.
Now somebody else will do his job and we'll all move on.
Wait, this is what she did after Fawlty Towers? Huh.
@AsterZero
So they moved to California and then 7 years later an American Woman(who went to college in California, and probably lives there) got fired/decided to leave.
What exactly is the inference here?
@ChrisDeku Conversations around stories like this make me wonder when are we being enthusiasts and when are we being gossips.
@ChrisDeku They moved to california and started to censor 3rd party games, even games that nintendo didn't censor. I never imagined back on psone that in the far future, sony will censor games more than nintendo 😕
@PlayStationGamer3919 Then again, sometime people just want to retire instead of starting anew with new leadership…
But I also saw that she might have been fired for her involvement in the pivot for Sony toward games as a service…
@AsterZero Well Sone did replace the majority of the board, and they chose to chase after the American market first, but I don’t think they counted on Microsoft buying Activision. They should have left it as it was really. Not ditch their home town.
@RunGMhx Wow really? She was driving that crap?
@S1ayeR74 It's more accurate to say "Western" market first, as Europe is their largest stronghold, even above the US. They have at least some competition from Xbox in the US, in Europe they are virtually unassailable.
As for ditching their home town, there are several factors to this. Japan's apparent love for handheld gaming is a big one, but also the decline of Sony's largest third-party supporter in Japan: Square(-Enix), and possibly to a lesser extent Konami. Without a Square on form to draw Japanese gamers to Playstation, they can't really put up a strong fight against Nintendo.
@RunGMhx I was reading about this too, but I see people painting two different pictures;
The fact that all of this info comes from Jaffe though makes me wary of any of it until it's properly confirmed.
For my money, until I'm told otherwise, she's been there 30+ years and that gives anyone the right to move on.
@trev666
And you trust him? He peddles in conjecture. I don’t know either way of course, but I don’t make money from pretending to do so.
Some people just get bored after 30 years in the same company and, after that time, have enough financial security to pursue new passions…or retire if they wish.
30 years is a long time. I am sure there will probably be more long-time veterans leaving.
I don't think it's all doom and gloom, though. I think it's that these "lifers" are just tired and ready to move on/retire. These people have been around since before the PlayStation started. Maybe they feel they have done all they can muster for Sony and I think they just feel like it's "time".
Good luck to her in whatever she decides to do in the future - she's paid her dues.
I'm staggered of the career she's had given her 2nd game was Rise Of The Robots. (even if it was just a thanks)
Would have had that as a career killer right there.
@PlayStationGamer3919 @RBMango I think it's a bit of a leap to even ASSUME she would want to be head of PlayStation. Many don't want to be in the limelight like that, being the face of the company. Most people hadn't even heard of her till this week, probably for good reason!
This is a pretty quiet exit for someone so integral to the success of the platform, and the industry as a whole, that it’s hard not to read into it and think maybe it’s not all a matter of rosy retirement. Her resume has to be among the most staggering, legendary list of achievements in all of gaming. Best wishes and good luck to her with whatever’s next, and what a massive loss for the PlayStation community.
@thefourfoldroot1 i think its telling we hear from Sony about her leaving and nothing from her. usually when people leave or retire we hear the announcement from that person
@trev666 Not sure why you would expect to hear anything from her, given that she didn't really have any sort of public presence for over 30 years. She might not have wanted the attention, we don't know. Best not to jump to conclusions.
From now on it will be known at "the Booth era" and the "post-Booth era"
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