• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Jim Ryan is on fire

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Then he stepped into the PlayStation servers :messenger_tongue:
Robin Williams What Year Is It GIF
 
Its funny people when people complain about jim ryan its always surface level blurbs or some shit everyone else is doing but when you get down to it he hasn’t done any actual damage to the playstation brand. The stuff people complain about last a week until its onto the next big thing.

In the end, people care about games. Playstation delivers on games, they rarely have a sub 80 game from their publishing arm.
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
He'll probably go down as the most consequential CEO of PlayStation (and that includes Ken Kutaragi)...
Holy sweet fuck is this the dumbest opinion I've read today. Kutaragi was PlayStation. In terms of consequential CEOs, every soul for all creation will always play second fiddle to Crazy Ken. Ryan inherited PlayStation while it was already in beast mode, thanks to those before him. Thus far, Ryan's biggest contributions have been price increases and shifting studios to make GAAS. I'm glad you enjoy his taste in your mouth, but please, give the fan-boy PR hyperbole a break and think before you post.
 
Its funny people when people complain about jim ryan its always surface level blurbs or some shit everyone else is doing but when you get down to it he hasn’t done any actual damage to the playstation brand. The stuff people complain about last a week until its onto the next big thing.

In the end, people care about games. Playstation delivers on games, they rarely have a sub 80 game from their publishing arm.
The only real gripe people have against Jim is that he doesn’t come off as a gamer and many don’t like the direction he’s taking PlayStation. But it’s all subjective as to whether you live what he’s doing or don’t. He’s objectively doing a good job regardless.
 
The only real gripe people have against Jim is that he doesn’t come off as a gamer and many don’t like the direction he’s taking PlayStation. But it’s all subjective as to whether you live what he’s doing or don’t. He’s objectively doing a good job regardless.

Its always been a weird criticism for a CEO of a company to be a gamer. Jim Ryan isn’t a creative or a dev, he’s a big picture-money guy, its always been up to the people at the individual studios to produce good content and its up to the head of playstation studios to make sure they are putting the right people in charge to create those games.
 
Its always been a weird criticism for a CEO of a company to be a gamer. Jim Ryan isn’t a creative or a dev, he’s a big picture-money guy, its always been up to the people at the individual studios to produce good content and its up to the head of playstation studios to make sure they are putting the right people in charge to create those games.
I agree but perception is a big part for gamers. It doesn’t mean he needs to try and come off as something he isn’t. As long as he does a good job that’s all that matter but regardless the same usual suspects are gonna find something to cry about.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
Sony has been lining themselves up to be this kind of multimedia company for well over a decade, so I think it's important to recognize the contributions of previous PlayStation leaders as well. I think their biggest weakness are the executives over at Sony Pictures when it comes to working hand-in-hand with their other divisions. Meanwhile, their gaming studios seem willing and eager to pump out shows like The Last of Us or do any kind of cross promotion they can with their film counterparts.
 
Sony has been lining themselves up to be this kind of multimedia company for well over a decade, so I think it's important to recognize the contributions of previous PlayStation leaders as well. I think their biggest weakness are the executives over at Sony Pictures when it comes to working hand-in-hand with their other divisions. Meanwhile, their gaming studios seem willing and eager to pump out shows like The Last of Us or do any kind of cross promotion they can with their film counterparts.

You mean SIE/Playstation has been trying to be multimedia. Sony has always been a multimedia company, they pretty much dominate in anime, music, and to a lesser degree tv and film.
 
Last edited:

anthony2690

Banned
I may not be as interested in PlayStation's first party output as I once was.

But you can not deny the success he is having with playstation current ips/Spiderman & TV shows/films so far. (Even if I think gran turismo and twisted metal are super odd choices)

He doesn't really have much presence or likability like someone like Laydon, but regardless he is clearly doing a good job & the fanbase that enjoys the current output are happy :)

I wonder if their big push into vr will pay off, I personally feel vr is a fad, but only time will tell.
 
Last edited:

jaysius

Banned
The one thing I give Ryan is the fact that he proved that releasing games on PC won't hurt your console business. 2 entirely different audiences worth catering to.
He's not allergic to money and see a market to make more of it.

Nothing spectacular there.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Wait are we crediting Jim Ryan for The Last of Us TV show and basically the entirety of PlayStation Productions?
 

vivftp

Member
I'm just gonna quote myself from a post a few months ago:

Since Jim Ryan took over in 2019 we've seen initiatives from SIE such as:

- Massive studio expansion of all PlayStation Studios, with some of their larger ones going multi-project
- More acquisitions than ever in SIE's history (Insomniac, Valkyrie, Housemarque, Bluepoint, Bungie, Haven, Firesprite, Savage Game Studio and Nixxes)
- Expansion into PC gaming (several PC titles released so far with several more announced and known via the Nvidia leak)
- Expansion into mobile gaming (not yet announced anything)
- Expansion into esports with the co-acquisition of Evo
- The creation of PlayStation Productions (10+ film and TV projects)
- The push for live service games (10+ by 2025)
- Premium subscription services by merging PS+ and PS Now together and improving the overall content library and offerings.
- Appointing Shu as head of PS Indies & Hermen as head of PS Studios. Presumably appointing Asad as head of PS Productions

That's in about 3.5 years. SIE has transformed massively under his watch and they're not done yet. It'll be interesting to see what SIE looks like by the end of this gen.

The man knows how to run and grow an organization, and has a lot of talented folks working with him.
 
Last edited:

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I agree. This IP synergy across games, movies, tv shows, and mobile have the potential to take PlayStation to new heights.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. By the time it's all done, Jim Ryan will become one of the best CEOs of SIE.
 

vivftp

Member
Wait are we crediting Jim Ryan for The Last of Us TV show and basically the entirety of PlayStation Productions?

Crediting him for all the work done by the hundreds/thousands of people who are involved in all those projects? No, of course not. Crediting him for green-lighting the formation of PS Productions very shortly after taking over SIE, yes. A leader has to be able to make the right calls for what to approve and what not to approve, and who to put in key positions. PS Productions is an absolute home run.

Jimbo is ultimately responsible for what goes on in SIE under his watch - the good and the bad. Nothing wrong with crediting him for making the right calls
 

AGRacing

Member
This has been my least favorite period of PlayStation. I am NOT blaming Jim for all of it... But ...

The brand isn't edgy or even fun like it used to be. The online store is packed to the brim with cell phone tier garbage... Ie "the jumping spaghetti" and "the jumping spaghetti turbo". We just passed the 3rd holiday for PS5 the big game was a sequel that looks very much like the last generation game it followed (and not as well written). Gran Turismo went from rock and roll to pianos and coffee. Naughty Dog is just re-releasing old stuff. They released a Premium tier subscription with the promise of PS1, PS2 and PSP content.... Barely release anything in any of those categories.

And all this is probably just fine for people who haven't been with the brand since Day 1. If I were new to PlayStation in this decade maybe I'd love it.

But PS1, 2 and 3. That's when owning a console was truly incredible. Not feeling it lately.
 

Yoboman

Member
Did he have much to do with the movies and teh shows because I'm finding myself surrprised at how well that stuff is taking off.

The only execs I like are reggie and kaz because they have funny faces for funny memes. Especially kaz. His horse laugh is hilarious.
He has as much to do with it as he does with PS2 backwards compatibility and Japan censorship which he seems to get blamed for
 

supernova8

Banned
Best thing about Jim is that he knows how to shut the fuck up.
Yeah I think this is why Phil Spencer irritates me. The ratio of "PR sound bite" to "actually releasing big games" is way too far in the wrong direction for my liking.

I could be wrong but it seems like (very generally speaking), executives at American firms think "better say something or they'll wonder why we're being so quiet" while Japanese companies are more "If you have nothing useful to say, don't say anything. Even when you do have something to say, think hard before you say it". (Sony is still very much a Japanese company at heart no matter how much global it has become over the years).

With all that said, I still can't get over Jim's "we believe in generations" bollocks given that SIE ended up releasing a load of their top titles as cross-gen games.
 
Last edited:
Yeah Jimbo is pretty quiet these days. Most we ever get from him is a fireside chat

Their showcases and state of plays he just lets the games do the talking
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
He's starting to grow on me. I have been extremely hard on him and PlayStation as a whole.

I am not a fan of the utter secrecy under his regime.

I HATE how they dont do any showcases anymore. Everything is announced via twitter and blog posts.

I also hate the cross gen nonsense. And the utter lie he told.

I have yet to see if the new dedication to (12) GAAS games will harm their single player AAA output. If it does, literally nothing else good they do will overshadow that for me.

Those are my only gripes. Other than that, he is doing a good job growing the IP's of the company, and has been delivering on games. Much better than all the competition. Also has made some very smart studio purchases.
 

FeralEcho

Member
The only thing Jim Ryan has been good for is taking the credit for other people's controbutions! People always praise him for the game receptions but how many projects has he trully initiated? Spiderman 2,God of War Ragnarok,Horizon FW,these are all surefire sequels to games that were initiated by his predecesors...What would be his respinse here...."sure don't make these popular sequels cuz I don't like money"? Where are the new ips.I can't see shit.He's only been greenlighting remakes for popular games from the past,making PS5 exclusive shit into cross-gen and initiating in dumbass conversations with the other one hit wonder Phil Spencer about COD and aquisitions while he himself is on a thirdparty moneyhat rampage.I Guess I can give him Returnal as a greenlit project by him and i suppose Death Stranding 2 but other than that he's been surfing on the back of decisions from his better predecesors.

I don't understand his praise and never will.
 

consoul

Member
He'll probably go down as the most consequential CEO of PlayStation (and that includes Ken Kutaragi).
I don't know about that one, chief.

Ken K remains the title holder, for better and worse.
 

vivftp

Member
I HATE how they dont do any showcases anymore. Everything is announced via twitter and blog posts.

I also hate the cross gen nonsense. And the utter lie he told.

PlayStation will surely hold a showcase again when they're ready to reveal the next wave of first party titles. There's a laundry list of reasons for them to have skipped 2022 to hold a showcase. I really wanted one too, but I'm content to wait until they're in a position to hold one.

Regarding the "cross gen nonsense", remember that the cross gen phase was only supposed to last a year as far as first party content is concerned (at least most of it, some things like MLB and Destiny and whatnot remain cross-gen). Games like God of War, Horizon and GT7 were all 2021 games until the pandemic pushed them to 2022.

Regarding the "utter lie he told", I presume you're referring to the "believe in generations" quote? See, the problem is that it gets repeated so much that folks conveniently ignore the entire quote. Let me provide it for you:

Source

"We have always said that we believe in generations. We believe that when you go to all the trouble of creating a next-gen console, that it should include features and benefits that the previous generation does not include. And that, in our view, people should make games that can make the most of those features.

"We do believe in generations, and whether it's the DualSense controller, whether it's the 3D audio, whether it's the multiple ways that the SSD can be used... we are thinking that it is time to give the PlayStation community something new, something different, that can really only be enjoyed on PS5."


Jimbo didn't lie. The quote had nothing to do with cross-gen games and PS5 exclusive games, it was about features and experiences. He was very clear in what he was talking about there. Sure it was conveniently timed with MS's statements at the time, but again, he was very clear in his quote. The fact that internet folks ran with it as some sort of "gotcha" when Sonys cross gen plans were revealed has caused me to facepalm many times cause no one takes the time to look at the original quote to see what he was actually talking about.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom