John (Tsuyoshi) Kodera will be replaced on April 1.

Sony‘s statement reveals that on the first day of the next fiscal year (April 1), Sony Interactive Entertainment’s current deputy president, Jim Ryan, will replace John Kodera, to be the new president and CEO. It means Kodera, who replaced Andrew House at the helm of SIE in October 2017, will lose his position after 1.5 years. Ryan and Kodera will swap places, as the latter will focus on „innovative user experiences and further enhancing the network area” as Ryan’s deputy. Jim Ryan will also take the representative directorial and presidential post of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., with Kodera also becoming a representative director and Ryan’s deputy.

Jim Ryan joined Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE – the predecessor of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe, SCIE!) in 1994. In 2011, he became the president of SCEE, leading the PlayStation brand in over one hundred companies. In April 2016, he was promoted to become SIE‘s global head of marketing and sales, and in January 2018, he was deputy president of the company.

We have yet to see how Ryan will be able (if he can do so) to reach the heights of Andrew House because let’s face it, we haven’t seen Kodera as much as we did House, who already got recognition during the PlayStation 4‘s price announcement at E3 2013. Also, let us not forget that Ryan openly refused cross-play at E3 2017, which is why it will be interesting to see how Sony and its PlayStation arm will fare… but maybe it could be better for the company if it had a Japanese president. Why not go with Shuhei Yoshida? He’s popular with gamers, after all…

Source: Gematsu, GameSpot