The man behind PlayStation’s online services is set to leave SIE

Tsuyoshi Kodera, the veteran Sony exec behind many of PlayStation’s online services, will leave the Interactive Entertainment division at the end of the current fiscal year.

Kodera, who was also briefly PlayStation’s CEO and President before the appointment of Jim Ryan, will move into a new role within the Sony corporation on April 1, it announced on Thursday.

The 30-year company veteran first joined SIE’s network team in 2010 as a senior vice president, but was later appointed president of the entire Sony Network Entertainment group in 2013.

As leader of the Network group, Kodera was integral to the launch of PlayStation’s flagship online services, including the modern PlayStation Store, PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services, plus PlayStation Video and Music.

PlayStation Plus in particular – the service which offers online services, discounts and monthly free games – became one of Sony’s biggest revenue drivers during Kodera’s tenure, with the company claiming over 40 million paying subscribers as of May 2020.

In 2016, when Sony merged its Computer Entertainment and Network Entertainment divisions to create the modern PlayStation business, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Kodera was made deputy president.

Following the departure of Andrew House in late 2017, Kodera briefly took over as SIE’s CEO and president until the appointment of current boss Jim Ryan in April 2019.

Sony Interactive Entertainment was recently forced to deny suggestions that the company was shifting its focus away from the Japanese market.

A recent Bloomberg report claimed Sony’s home territory had been increasingly “sidelined” in promotional planning for PS5 and seen its development teams slashed, as the corporation places more importance on the US market.

Following the report, several high-profile departures were confirmed including Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls producer Teruyuki Toriyama, and Silent Hill and Gravity Rush creator Keiichiro Toyama.

But in an interview published in Edge, PlayStation boss Ryan insisted that the claims Sony was marginalising Japan’s role were inaccurate.

“The Sony stance is that the Japanese market remains incredibly important to us,” he said. “We have not been as excited about the engagement of the Japanese game development community as we are now for many years.”