Andrew House
Image: Michael O'Donnell / Sony Interactive

Surprise! Andrew House has stepped down from his position as PlayStation president, with his deputy John Kodera taking the reins. The sudden change brings an end to a 25-plus year career at Sony, though the bearded businessman will hang around as director and chairman for a few more months before finally setting off into the sunset.

There’s no word on where House will go, but he probably deserves a bit of a break after launching four PlayStation consoles and two portables. “PlayStation has been a huge part of my life for more than 20 years but with the business having achieved record-breaking success, now seemed to be the right time for me to pursue new challenges,” he said.

House has held a variety of positions over the years, leading PlayStation Europe before getting the call from new company CEO Kaz Hirai to head up Sony Interactive Entertainment as a whole. Some of his most famous moments include debuting the PlayStation 4 console, as well as announcing that partnership with Hideo Kojima.

“When I passed the baton of leadership for SIE to Andrew House in 2011, I was confident that I was leaving the PlayStation business in the best possible hands – and so it has proved,” said Hirai. “Andy and I go back more than 20 years and spent much of this time together, dedicating ourselves to ensuring the success of the PlayStation business.”

House concluded: “I shall always treasure the friendships and people that have made SIE such a wonderful place to work. I'm also grateful to PlayStation fans and gamers around the world for their loyalty and support. John [Kodera] and the team at SIE are world-class and I know the future of PlayStation is very bright.”

So who is Kodera? Well, he’s a Sony veteran as well – but not necessarily a PlayStation one. He spent many years working in the ICT side of the Japanese giant, before leading Sony Network Entertainment (which includes the PlayStation Network, of course) in 2013. Since last year he’s served as House’s deputy, so he should already be pretty familiar with the role.

“It's a great honour to take on the role of President and CEO at SIE, and I'm very grateful to Kaz and Andy for the trust and faith they have shown in me,” he said. “I intend to build on the amazing progress Andy has made enhancing the PlayStation brand and expanding the game and network services business, and will strive to further strengthen the unique value proposition we are able to offer via the PlayStation platform.”

Over to you, then, John.

[source eurogamer.net]