PlayStation: Tsuyoshi Kodera, the man behind PS Plus, leaves SIE

According to what has emerged in the last few hours, Tsuyoshi Kodera, Sony's veteran executive behind many of PlayStation's online services, will leave the division of Sony Interactive Entertainment at the end of the current fiscal year. Kodera, who was also briefly CEO and President of PlayStation prior to the appointment of Jim Ryan, he will fill a new role within the company on April 1st. For those unfamiliar with him, the executive joined the SIE team in 2010, holding the role of senior vice president, before being promoted to president in 2013.

As a leader of Sony Network Entertainment, Kodera was an integral part of the launch of several leading online services of the gaming company, including: the revamped PS Store, PS Now, PlayStation Video, Music and the PlayStation Plus, which currently matters more than 40 million paying subscribers, according to data released by the company last May 2020. After the departure of Andrew House at the end of 2017, Tsuyoshi briefly assumed the position of CEO and president of SIE until the appointment of current boss Jim Ryan in April 2019.

While we do not currently know what new role the executive will play within the company, PlayStation loses another piece of its team, following the recent farewells of the producer of Bloodborne and Demon's Souls, Teruyuki Toriyama, and the creator of Silent Hill and Gravity Rush, Keiichiro Toyama. In recent months there has also been talk of how Sony has "put aside" the Japanese market, as regards the promotional campaign for PlayStation 5. Clearly the response of Jim Ryan, SIE boss, was certainly not long in coming, who assured Edge's microphones that Japan will continue to play an important role for the company:

For Sony, the Japanese market remains incredibly important. We have never been so excited about the commitment and passion the Japanese community is putting into the development of upcoming titles.