Sony has appointed Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino as new joint CEOs of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) during a broader restructuring period within the company. Following the announcement, Sony reported on its fiscal year performance.
Sony Appoints Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino as Joint CEOs of SIE
Leadership Transition Amid Sony's Restructuring of Strategy and Company
Sony has announced the appointment of Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino as joint CEOs of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), effective June 1, 2024, succeeding former CEO Jim Ryan. Hulst will lead the PlayStation Studio Business Group, overseeing PlayStation Studios, Bungie, and PlayStation Productions, while Nishino will head the Platform Business Group, overseeing technology, products, services, and platform experience, as well as third-party relations and commercial operations.
They will both report to Hiroki Totoki, who will serve as Chairman of SIE in addition to his current roles as President, COO, and CFO of Sony Group Corporation. "We will continue to connect players and creators through world-class products, services, and technology," said Nishino in a press release today. "By working more closely together, we will be positioned to build incredible experiences for an ever-expanding audience now and in the future."
Hulst, meanwhile, was determined to lead the studio business group and continue to build on their success with PlayStation 5 while preparing for the company's future. He added, "The video game industry is one of the largest entertainment industries in the world and has been built on the marriage of content and technology, and I look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of play and entertainment."
This leadership transition follows the retirement of Jim Ryan, who served as SIE's CEO since 2019 and announced his departure back in 2023. The change comes at a time when Sony had disclosed its strategy that includes bringing more first-party games to PC, cloud, and mobile and expanding into the territory of live-service games, as well as diversifying their media offerings such as in TV and movies, to improve its gaming division’s profit margins.
Sony Reports 7% Drop in Annual Profits, but Games and Movie Businesses Boost Q4 Net Profits
Following its announcement of Hulst and Nishino's appointment as joint CEOs, the company released its full financial report later in the day. Despite the strategic shift and company restructuring, Sony faces challenges, reporting a 7% decrease in annual profits for the fiscal year 2023, primarily due to a decline in its financial services division. The company reported a revenue increase of 19% year-over-year to 13 trillion yen (approximately 83.1 billion USD), but missed its revised target for PS5 sales, selling 20.8 million units compared to the forecasted 21 million units.
Looking ahead, Sony projected even weaker PS5 sales for the fiscal year ending March 2025, estimating sales of 18 million units, said an executive according to Reuters, despite recent hit releases such as Helldivers 2 and Stellar Blade. This projection is said to be part of a broader expectation of decreased revenue, with Sony forecasting a 5% decline for the following fiscal year.
Nevertheless, Sony's gaming and movie businesses were reported to show strong performance, with the game business's operating profit more than doubling to 105.98 billion yen (approximately 678 million USD) and the movie business's operating profit nearly doubling to 30.67 billion yen (approximately 196 million USD), which have both contributed to a 34% increase in Sony's fourth-quarter net profit from the previous year.
Source:
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