What just happened? Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) on Thursday announced that Guerrilla Games' Hermen Hulst has been promoted to head of Worldwide Studios, the collective group of development studios owned by Sony. Outgoing boss Shuhei Yoshida, meanwhile, will lead a new initiative focused on helping indie developers.
In his new role, Hulst will oversee game development across the 14 studios that make up Worldwide Studios. The executive said he is beyond excited to have the opportunity to lead an inspired and talented team whose singular mission is to build amazing games for PlayStation fans.
Outgoing president Shuhei Yoshida is sticking with SIE albeit in a new role. He will now lead a new initiative focused on "nurturing" external independent developers, providing them with the tools, technology and services they need to reach PlayStation's community of gamers.
Yoshida will report directly to SIE President and CEO Jim Ryan, we're told.
Ryan said everyone knows how passionate Yoshida is about independent games. "They are lifeblood of the industry, making our content portfolio so special for our gamers," he added.
Sony has been doing a bit of restructuring in recent memory as we inch closer to the eventual launch of the PlayStation 5. In September, it was announced that Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden would be stepping down. We also learned that the company will be shutting down its PlayStation Vue streaming TV service early next year in order to focus on its core gaming business.
Masthead credit: SIE offices by Sundry Photography