Masayasu Ito is stepping down as representative director and deputy president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, and his successor has already been named.

Masayasu Ito will leave Sony Interactive Entertainment (abbreviated as SIE onwards) on October 1, and Lin Tao will take over (he currently holds the position of director and deputy president), the company announced on its website. Kiichiro Urata, head of partner development and relations for SIE’s Japan and Asia region, will also be promoted, taking on one of the company’s directorial positions.

Although, at first glance, Ito’s name doesn’t sound like much, the 60-year-old (he looks younger!) Japanese gentleman has achieved a lot, having overseen the hardware engineering and operations of SIE and played a crucial role in designing several PlayStation hardware. As well as the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Portable, he was the hardware designer for the PlayStation 5 and the PlayStation VR. He joined SIE in 2008, having spent 11 years at Sony Corporation before that, so he’s certainly got two and a half decades under his belt.

Why are we so sure that Ito is NOT leaving SIE due to a replacement? Bloomberg cited sources familiar with the matter when it reported that Ito submitted his resignation due to reaching retirement age and is thus leaving Sony Group. It was confirmed a few hours later by a Sony spokesman, so Ito is indeed retiring, and he is not a victim of an internal battle.

Ito’s role in PlayStation’s direction over the last decade and a half has been a big one. Still, now that he’s no longer with the company, the PlayStation 6 could be heading in a different direction unless the foundations for new hardware have already been laid. That said, there’s always Mark Cerny, who also held a similar design role for the PlayStation 4, the ill-fated PlayStation Vita and the elusive PlayStation 5 (which has become even more expensive worldwide except in the US after a price hike).

Source: Gematsu