Sony Corp. shook up the top leadership of the company as well as at its major PlayStation division. It has appointed Hiroki Totoki to the CEO job, and Hideaki Nishino will be the sole CEO of the PlayStation division, Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Totoki, a 38-year Sony veteran, will replace Kenichiro Yoshida as CEO on April 1, 2025. (Yep, it’s not an April Fool’s joke). Totoki was previously chief operating officer and chief financial officer. That’s right. He’s a financial guy, not a technologist or game leader, running the whole business.
Back in May 2024, Nishino was named CEO of Sony Interactive’s Platform Business Group, while game developer Hermen Hulst was named CEO of the division’s studio business group. They replaced CEO Jim Ryan after he retired. Now Nishino will be Hulst’s boss. Nishino’s new title is president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, and he is still CEO of the Platform Business Group and the Studio Business Group. Hulst will lead the development, publishing and business operations of SIE’s first party content.
Hulst will also lead SIE to work with Sony Pictures in developing adaptations of its games as TV shows, movies and other transmedia via PlayStation Productions.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Sony Pictures Entertainment saw a change as Ravi Ahuja took over CEO duties from Tony Vinciquerra. Ahuja showed up at Sony’s CES 2025 press event on his first day as CEO. And Lin Tao is the new CFO for Sony — the first woman CFO in the company’s 80 years.
Sony has about 110,000 employees, with major businesses in cameras and imaging devices, TV sets, PlayStation game consoles, and movies and TV shows. It’s also making a new electric car with Honda — the Afeela, packed with a PlayStation 5 in it.
Yoshida was running Sony since 2018. During that time, he focused on high-margin products like cameras, and he acquired EMI as part of Sony Music for $3.5 billion.
My observation about these changes? I know all of Sony’s products and games and consoles. But I don’t recognize the people running the company anymore. I once knew all the leaders like Kaz Hirai, Andrew House, Jack Tretton, Shawn Layden, Hermen Hulst, Shu Yoshida, Adam Boyes and more. Now, pretty much nobody.
Yoshida said in a statement that based on his achievements at Sony, he proposed that Totoki succeed him in the regime change, crediting Totoki for investments in content IP and semiconductors. Yoshida will continue as chairman.
