In a recent interview, Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino, the two CEOs at the top of Sony Interactive Entertainment, appeared in the same chat for the first time since being appointed. It’s not the most conventional way to run a company, but Sony’s CEO believes it’s a recipe for success.
Hulst manages the studio side of things while Nishino oversees the platform operations. In a recent chat with Variety, the pair was grilled about all things PlayStation.
“It’s Our Duty to Run a Sustainable Business”
In Variety’s interview, the pair of CEOs first addressed the PS5 Pro, the next iteration of the PlayStation 5 that’s emerging at a very sketchy time for Sony. In recent months, the company has suffered under the weight of layoffs, studio closures, and scrutiny regarding the pricing point for this new powerhouse of a console.
Despite that, Hideaki Nishino remains optimistic:
We started working on PS5 Pro even before PS5 launches — it was another five-year project for us.
… we’re kind of happy to see, like most engaged gaming users are interested in the PS5 Pro, and then I’m pretty sure new users will grab the PS5 Pro as well. If it’s the PlayStation you want to get, that’s the thing. So that’s where we designed the generation at this moment. We design everything with having one ahead in our mind.
Hermen Hulst turned the talk away from hardware to what’s lined up in PlayStation’s portfolio, including new titles like Ghost of Yotei and live-action adaptations. He revealed that The Last of Us (HBO) was such a roaring success that it has been considered a ‘game changer’:
We learned a lot from that.
At PlayStation productions, we have 10 productions now in the works: “The Last of Us,” “Twisted Metal,” a few others that we’re very excited about.
We’re talking about adaptations, but in adaptations, that’s taking the game and then see what else you can do with it. We’re actually looking to build from the ground up — as we tried to do originally with “Horizon,” in creating this world and creating this storyline — and how can you tell stories in this world on various mediums?
Rounding out the interview with Variety, Hulst touched on a sore spot – the recent layoffs that hit PlayStation’s subsidiaries, including the shutdown of Concord and Firewalk Studios.
It’s our duty to look at our our resource planning, and make sure that we run a sustainable business. That’s part of being CEO. We never take that lightly, because we know these people personally, and it’s very close to our hearts and the teams and good working atmospheres. But yes, we’ve had some layoffs.
But it’s also important to realize that on the content side, PlayStation Studios is now a much bigger organization than when it started. It’s grown tremendously. And that is organic growth that our existing teams, I think, hired quite aggressively, as well as through M&A. So the organization, the employment is much greater now than it was, let’s say, for example, five years ago.
If you want the full meat on the bones, you can visit Variety for the complete interview.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the reveal of the first seven minutes of Metro: Awakening
Fire them both they clearly can’t run a business.
They have to remain “optimistic” if they don’t they get fire band their records tarnished. Jim Ryan did the same thing he outright lied he had no idea how the gaming business worked no understanding of the audience he was the joe biden of gaming he looked like him too I guess hulst is the kamala
It took them 5 years to make the worst decisions in PlayStation history yeah they need to be fired they’re idiots. Honestly Sony is cooked shut down PlayStation now everyone saw this coming years ago Microsoft went third party and has money to buy all publishers, Nintendo has their market, and PC has everything outside Nintendo legally.
Just more PR speak these guys wasted billions on useless acquisitions and garbage games also garbage e-sports like EVO something they should shut down already and let’s not forget they keep giving Kojima blank checks to make flops or paying for timed exclusives that don’t perform well. Then wasting time upsetting Microsoft over an acquisition or getting sued by countries for violating laws. PlayStation is a joke!
Employees need to ignore Ted Price and walkout and unionize against Sony it’s time to srike!
They’re doing this to save face after the massive failures that have happened this generation but it really doesn’t help they can’t run a sustainable business and I’m no console warrior because Phil said this same thing and it hurt his whole “I love games” mantra both of these companies have idiots there running things. Difference is Microsoft has money all they need is to buy more publishers like EA and Take2 and they’re set. Sony can’t do that and Shawn Layden said this before he knew Microsoft would do that and recommended Sony double down on AA because it could be made more frequent but Jim Ryan got him fired over that claiming it would “tarnish the brand” clearly Jim tarnished the brand but we all know he just wanted the job for his resume but now just hurts him. Shawn however is at Tencent now and they have Microsoft level money too they need to buy Epic.
What should we expect in the near future of PlayStation it’s almost the end of the year what’s coming next year? Nothing? ok shows you’ve done a horrible job. Sony needs to unload a lot of weight….