Jim Ryan is hanging up his DualSense and leaving PlayStation after a wildly successful 30-year career next month. While his misunderstood, deeply dry sense of humour has landed him in hot water with enthusiasts on numerous occasions, no one could criticise his achievements at the company, which has seen Sony become synonymous with gaming in Europe – and ultimately all around the world.
As he prepares for his departure, he spoke with Variety about his advice for his temporary successor Hiroki Totoki. “Never forget that we’re an entertainment business,” he said. “If we continue to entertain, delight, and surprise our community of gamers, I think Totoki-san and whoever follows him will be just fine.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Ryan noted that launching the PS5 during the pandemic was by far his biggest achievement. “It was my job to exude a sense of calm and serenity,” he pointed out. “Actually, I was there at my dining-room table, head in my hands, wondering how we were going to do this. I’m so proud of what the team achieved back in 2020.”
Ryan hinted that he does have new projects lined up, so this isn’t an outright retirement, but it sounds like whatever he’s up to will be different to his job at PlayStation. “I’m going to take my life in a little different direction,” he noted.
To round out the interview, he revealed his favourite game from each generation of console hardware, starting with Ridge Racer and GTA 3 through to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and God of War Ragnarok. “It’s had a huge and lasting impact on the gaming industry and certainly on PlayStation,” he said of GTA 3.
[source variety.com]
Comments 41
Ryan knows what a GTA3 is?
That's wild.
I'll get in before most of the haters to state something pretty obvious. He worked at Sony for decades, rose up through the ranks and ended up at the top. To do that you have to have a positive influence and achieve meaningful results along the way.
It will be interesting to see who is next and how they approach the role as PlayStation faces the profitability headwind laid out in other articles recently.
He was good at his job and he was also surprisingly open during the ABK trials on the profitability of day one games and stuff. Pity that no one really read the interviews and instead too clickbait headlines at face value.
Sony are doing just fine. No need to listen to this guy.
For me this has been the noticeable difference between PlayStation and Xbox in the past eleven years - Sony is an entertainment company, Microsoft is a tech company.
(Nintendo threads the line between entertainment and toy company in my mind.)
I have a feeling history will be kinder to Ryan than the fanbase has been.
I'm really hoping his leaving won't be a case of being careful what you wish for where the enthusiasts are concerned.
How has PlayStation been in our lives for almost 30 years? I still remember picking up my launch day PlayStation from good old Dixons. Been loving the brand since then. Thanks for all you did Jim!
I’ll never be a huge fan because he oversaw PlayStations globalisation / centralisation policy which ended up having a huge impact on some of the games I like (to the extent of some not even being released) as well as generally the westernisation of all Sony’s output to be far less varied and fun. He also spearheaded the current direction on a live service focus.
However, he did also encourage the development and release of VR, which saved my gaming interest, so that’s a big plus.
Don’t like what I’m hearing from the new finance guy being put in charge though. Sounds like he doesn’t care about gaming at all, leading me to see Ryan’s comment as more of a last ditch message to save what he has built.
No one can take away his achievements. For anyone interested in Sony I’d recommend the podcast below as it’s fantastic!
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/acquired/id1050462261?i=1000606224560
@SoulChimera couldn’t agree more and remember buying the Playstation in 94 at HMV Manchester with Wipeout and Ridge Racer. Those were the days!
More specifically, they should stop entertaining and surprising people with extremely bad decisions. Also antagonising players isn't the same as delighting.
Jim Ryan will only be judged ’good’ in players eyes if Sony screw up PlayStation in the next few years. If they do good or well in players eyes then Jimbo is doomed.
What or if this matters is another topic of conversation entirely……..
"his misunderstood, deeply dry sense of humour has landed him in hot water with enthusiasts on numerous occasions"
That's not what we had a problem with. His lack of communication was more of an issue and his few contentious statements that he did make were somewhat cringe-worthy.
Remember getting my Playstation (no number) from a local shop in Ashby-de-la-Zouch with a copy of Doom and the original Tomb Raider. It was the model just after the revised CD drive had been introduced to stop read issues, if I remember rightly?
Since then it's been fat PS2, fat 60GB PS3, slim PS3 (fatty died), PS4 OG, PS4 Pro. PS5 still has to prove itself worth it to me...
Thank you for your service Jim 🫡
He’s ruined PlayStation by forcing PlayStation studios to make live service games. Glad he’s gone.
I mean you can't forget or underestimate how crazy and uncertain was. Hell of a time to launch.
@Frmknst the recent last of us multiplayer games that was cancelled, insomniac was working on a live service according to the leaks but looks like that was cancelled. Guerlla is still working on a live service game but I read somewhere it’s being transferred to another studio.
As a gamer, I'll say I have more respect than fondness for him. I certainly didn't always agree with his ideas but he did manage to successfully navigate the platform through the most turbulent time in its history.
A 30 year career means he's always been involved with Playstation in some capacity since before the first one even launched, so despite my own personal ideas about gaming, it's hard to deny that he's a Playstation guy through and through.
Hopefully the live services and GaaS rubbish leaves with him.
Thank you Jim. Even if I consider rushing PS5 release (could wait until 2022 and be polished) and GaaS games as huge misstep, the rest of your work was very good.
@sanderson72 Ashby de la zouch...the home of rare, formerly known as ultimate,you made my brain go ting ,as a flood of memories came back 😁
@Shepherd_Tallon
Nintendo is more of a toy company that makes games.
And their games show that, I always have a blast playing whatever they release and almost never picked a Nintendo game that didn't gave me joy.
@CielloArc Yeah I fully agree.
Mario Kart for example, it feels like having a blast with toys to me. I love it.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit even, I giggled the first time I played with that.
@KillerBoy you know there’s 1000 other games that aren’t live service games, right? Like, if there’s nothing you don’t like on PlayStation then maybe just move on. It’s 100% to avoid liver service games if you don’t like them. 🤷🏾♂️
@Luigia "No one can take away his achievements"
They could take away his trophies though 😂😂🤣🤣
“If we continue to entertain, delight, and surprise our community of gamers, I think Totoki-san and whoever follows him will be just fine.”
Unfortunately the PS5 has been focusing on remakes and very samey sequels. The developers in Japan that were trying weird and surprising stuff got canned 5 years ago.
Jim ryan got good taste with grand theft auto 3 and god of war.i miss jack tretton and shawn layden.word up son
good riddance
I appreciate everything Mr. Ryan did trying to keep Playstation going. I wasn't a big fan of his. I miss the personalities of people like Shuhei, people who were obviously big Playstation nerds. He felt very flat to me but the results speak for themselves.
@Shushibda Went for an interview at Rare in the Nintendo days and their office walls were full of all the original Ultimate artwork; Atic Atac, Jetpac, Underwurlde, Sabrewulf, Knight Lore and so on.
To say I was awestruck, even in my mid-twenties at the time, is an understatement!
He drove PS5 into a ditch
@sanderson72 played them all on the spectrum and some of the cbm 64 ones , wish someone would release a spectrum collection on modern consoles similar to what they did for the atari 2600 , it would sell like hot cakes , us mature gamers would lap it up.
@Shushibda Might be worth keeping an eye on Evercade or Switch - there are already C64 titles coming on those.
@AhmadSumadi a thousand other Sony first game that aren’t live service, where are these? Apart from death stranding 2 there nothing confirmed from PlayStation this year and that is very worrying
@Marquez agreed entirely. Jim was the wrong guy for a job that’s about software more than anything else, but he’s not an idiot like some people claim. He just wasn’t a good pick. Definitely a hardware guy. Go work on some TVs or something Jim.
One more chance for PushSquare to post a Jim Ryan meme or whatever it's called.
this is easily sony's worst console generation in its history. i don't think that is an unfair opinion as it has been shared by many people here on pushsquare as well. you don't need to look very far to realize this has been a lackluster 3.5 years. you can blame the pandemic all you want, but that excuse should have ended at least 12-18 months ago. it looks like jim's decisions on the GaaS side of things are going to throw sony off for the next several years as games continue to get outright cancelled or pivot to single player games as they should have been from the start. a lot of money and resources were squandered by jim ryan. don't expect sony to right the ship until the ps6 arrives (which could be sooner than expected by the looks of things).
Respect for what he achieved during 30 years with Sony but glad he's leaving. The main issue for me is lack of communication with ps community. I want somebody like Layden to be head of PS again, I don't think Hulst is the best option tbh
From a financial/business manager viewpoint you can't help but respect his success. When he rose to UK boss he kept the PS3 Sales going at a period the brand was struggling in the U.S. playing catchup.
Likewise he kept the PS4 momentum going until the Covid years stuck in the middle of a console launch.
Likewise,Shuhei Yoshida (after stepping aside as President of Worldwide Studios First Parties), credits him with his appointment to third party & Indie relations & working to improve Sony's support to indie publishers back to a similar level it enjoyed late PS3/Early PS4 gens.
Indies won't please everyone,but there's certainly more variety in the PSN Sales than 3-4 years ago.
Insofar as being a Shawn Layden (I know he was never CEO),style "public face" of Playstation goes he certainly could put his foot in it.
He'd allude to the costs of implementing backwards compatibility of legacy gens vs popularity,yet we've seen a mixed bag of official efforts such as the games added to the PS Classics range,(& emulation used),with little support for the likes of PS2/PS1 in-house classics nevermind chasing third party additions.
How are you going to sell a Premium Service if you don't put in an effort to match that tier?
Given the comments of Totoki,the pressure for more live services could be argued as coming above Jim & Hermen Hulsts head's. That said, missed opportunities for getting a good remastering studio or two & focusing on rebooting Motorstorm,Resistance,or LBP 1 or 2 or Karting games from the PS3 Catalogue which in turn could've presented online multiplayer dlc opportunities were definitely missed over some of the remaster choices.
Likewise,the communication with the lack of a true public face to explain some of their decisions could've saved animosity too.
Agree with other comments,you hope his successor isn't a "suit" first & doesn't know how to fire up a console. Or even if they did,fix your PR but moreso develop your PSN Store for a steam style refund system,store gifting etc.,& get a public face to represent you who does know how to lob Phil Spencer PR back to him like TNT to Wyle E. Coyote!😁😋
"Achievements" or not, Kim Ryan has taken Sony Playstation back to an era of complacence and arrogance. Good Riddance.
@sanderson72 I've been looking at an evercade for a while now , don't know which one to get though , sorry for the late reply , I got banned for 5 days on pure xbox so it affects this site as well , which is daft , those guys over there sure are sensitive Sally's.
@Shushibda We had the same decision to make when we got one for my son for Christmas.
We eventually plumped for the VS, the TV console, as we can play multi-player and you can load in 2 cartridges in at the same time which can unlock some hidden games (e.g. Team 17 collection + Worms collection unlocks Worms: The Director's Cut)
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