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[Jubenhimer]

In 2005, Sony Computer Entertainment (now Sony Interactive Entertainment) merged all of its game development teams across SCEI, SCEA, and SCEE into a brand new global division called SCE Worldwide Studios, now known as PlayStation Studios. The new group was in charge of running each of Sony's first party game studios, including Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio, and others, as a single mass. Then SCEE VP Phil Harrison was put in charge as president, and was tasked with developing games for the new PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles.

Harrison's run as WWS president was a solid, if short-lived showing, producing hits like Loco Roco, Resistance, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, MotorStorm, echochrome, among others, while greenlighting then announced projects like InFamous. While the PS3 had an infamously rocky first few years, Harrison did everything he could to make the system look good.

Phil left Sony in 2008 to join Infogrames/Atari. Discussions began brewing among SCE management over whether or not to axe WWS. But Senior VP of WWS America, Shuhei Yoshida was able to convince new SCE president, Kaz Hari to be Phil's replacement. Kaz agreed, under the condition that Worldwide Studios be integrated into SCE's platform development process.

Shuhei Yoshida was the longest standing president of WWS, leading all game development at Sony for PS3, PSP, PS Vita, and PS4. Under Yoshida, Sony branched out to broader audiences with new titles like Mod Nation Racers, Tearaway, Journey, while also attempting to revitalize JAPAN Studio with cult hits like Puppeteer, Gravity Rush, and Playroom, in addition to traditional PlayStation style content like The Last of Us from Naughty Dog, and sequels to Killzone, Resistance, and Uncharted.

The PlayStation 4 was arguably the height of his career, with critical and commercial smash hits like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Bloodborne, Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Marvel's Spider-Man, Gravity Rush 2, Dreams, Ghosts of Tsushima, and more. Shu retired in 2019, moving over to lead SIE's indie relations team. His successor was Guerilla Games co-founder, Hermen Hulst, leading what is now known as PlayStation Studios.

So far, Hermen managed to get the PlayStation 5 off to a strong start, with AAA hits like Miles Morales, Returnal, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Horizon: Forbidden West, all coming out in the first year of the system. Hermen and co. also signed a bunch of new development deals with second-party start-ups, and acquired many new developers to the PS Studios group. If nothing else, Hermen seems to know how to get the most out of the development teams.

 

[ManaByte]

Anyone who votes for anyone other than Shu gets promoted to the ban page.

 

[kyliethicc]

In 2005, Sony Computer Entertainment (now Sony Interactive Entertainment) merged all of its game development teams across SCEI, SCEA, and SCEE into a brand new global division called SCE Worldwide Studios, now known as PlayStation Studios. The new group was in charge of running each of Sony's first party game studios, including Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio, and others, as a single mass. Then SCEE VP Phil Harrison was put in charge as president, and was tasked with developing games for the new PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles.

Harrison's run as WWS president was a solid, if short-lived showing, producing hits like Loco Roco, Resistance, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, MotorStorm, echochrome, among others, while greenlighting then announced projects like InFamous. While the PS3 had an infamously rocky first few years, Harrison did everything he could to make the system look good.

Phil left Sony in 2008 to join Infogrames/Atari. Discussions began brewing among SCE management over whether or not to axe WWS. But Senior VP of WWS America, Shuhei Yoshida was able to convince new SCE president, Kaz Hari to be Phil's replacement. Kaz agreed, under the condition that Worldwide Studios be integrated into SCE's platform development process.

Shuhei Yoshida was the longest standing president of WWS, leading all game development at Sony for PS3, PSP, PS Vita, and PS4. Under Yoshida, Sony branched out to broader audiences with new titles like Mod Nation Racers, Tearaway, Journey, while also attempting to revitalize JAPAN Studio with cult hits like Puppeteer, Gravity Rush, and Playroom, in addition to traditional PlayStation style content like The Last of Us from Naughty Dog, and sequels to Killzone, Resistance, and Uncharted.

The PlayStation 4 was arguably the height of his career, with critical and commercial smash hits like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Bloodborne, Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Marvel's Spider-Man, Gravity Rush 2, Dreams, Ghosts of Tsushima, and more. Shu retired in 2019, moving over to lead SIE's indie relations team. His successor was Guerilla Games co-founder, Hermen Hulst, leading what is now known as PlayStation Studios.

So far, Hermen managed to get the PlayStation 5 off to a strong start, with AAA hits like Miles Morales, Returnal, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Horizon: Forbidden West, all coming out in the first year of the system. Hermen and co. also signed a bunch of new development deals with second-party start-ups, and acquired many new developers to the PS Studios group. If nothing else, Hermen seems to know how to get the most out of the development teams.

you forgot Shawn Layden who took over from Shuhei in 2016

 

[Jubenhimer]

you forgot Shawn Layden who took over from Shuhei in 2016

Shawn's position was weird. When SCE transitioned to SIE, Shawn was Chairman of WWS, while Shu remained as president. So Shawn and Shu were essentially both running Worldwide Studios at the same time.

 

[SHA]

Hermen Hulst, I'm fine with another killzone, don't care how the story progressed, we need another killzone.

 

[kyliethicc]

Shawn's position was weird. When SCE transitioned to SIE, Shawn was Chairman of WWS, while Shu remained as president. So Shawn and Shu were essentially both running Worldwide Studios at the same time.

Cuz Shu was demoted without needing to admit it or say anything.

Layden said he was asked to take over 1st party in 2016 by Andy House.

Layden ran WWS and was who greenlit games. He literally called them "my studios" in his E3 2018 interview.

Thats why when Layden left Hulst took over. Shuhei was not in charge of 1st party since 2016.

 

[Jubenhimer]

Cuz Shu was demoted without needing to admit it or say anything.

Layden said he was asked to take over 1st party in 2016 by Andy House.

Layden ran WWS and was who greenlit games. He literally called them "my studios" in his E3 2018 interview.

Thats why when Layden left Hulst took over. Shuhei was not in charge of 1st party since 2016.

Well like I said, it was a weird joint-leadership of Shawn and Shu. So now we're back to just one PS Studios head with Hermen.

 

[bender]

 

[Aenima]

*looks at poll results*

 

[Mr Hyde]

Shu, without a doubt. He brought so many interesting games to the table, most notably my favorite game of all time. Bloodborne. He also brought Demon's Souls remake, which I'm forever grateful for. Shu is also very likeable and sweet. I don't think anyone will top him. His only blunder was not recognizing the potential of From Software, although he made up for it (somewhat) later in his career.

 

[Unknown?]

Hulst for buying Firesprite and effectively reviving Liverpool Studios.

 

[kyliethicc]

Well like I said, it was a weird joint-leadership of Shawn and Shu. So now we're back to just one PS Studios head with Hermen.

It wasn't joint. I can even show a video where Cory Barlog explains that Layden was Shu's boss and on top running WWS by himself.

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

Hermen is by far my least favorite. He took a good thing and said lets only do this...going to turn Sony games into the MCU of the industry. High production value but over saturated on the formula. Need the balance, whats team ico up too? Getting rid of japan studio after gravity rush 2? Sick decisions.

 

[Jubenhimer]

Hermen is by far my least favorite. He took a good thing and said lets only do this...going to turn Sony games into the MCU of the industry. High production value but over saturated on the formula. Need the balance, whats team ico up too? Getting rid of japan studio after gravity rush 2? Sick decisions.

Well we do have those multiplayer games still in development. And Hulst did say he wants a diverse lineup of games. I'd wait until Sony shows more of its 2023 and beyond lineup before making the claim that they're the MCU of games. Remember, a lot of these games like Ragnarok and Forbidden West were originally in development as PS4 games (hence their PS4 versions), before the PS Studios re-organization took hold.

 

[ElCasual]

Where is Shawn Layden?

 

[YukiOnna]

Shu is unmatched. Still mad they took him off.

 

[Jubenhimer]

Shu is unmatched. Still mad they took him off.

I think Shu wanted to move into indies though.

 

[bentanchorbolt]

Other: Shawn Layden

 

[Yoboman]

I'd say Shu. A lot of new IP that hit big and transformed Sony from being the worst first party to arguably the best

Hermen has been solid but is relying alot on sequels to what was established in Shu's era

Hermen will make or break over the next few years depending on if his live service push delivers and the acquisitions he has been able to bring into the fold start to deliver in the way the existing studios do

 

[Yoboman]

Hermen is by far my least favorite. He took a good thing and said lets only do this...going to turn Sony games into the MCU of the industry. High production value but over saturated on the formula. Need the balance, whats team ico up too? Getting rid of japan studio after gravity rush 2? Sick decisions.

Team ICO was gone in 2011 bro. At least play the blame game right.

Hermen may have pulled the plug on Japan Studio, but they got sick and withered away under Shu. Barely any content since PS3, none of it successful and had lost their credibility when Ueda left

Shu actually had a lot of fails with Japan. Losing Ueda, decline of Japan Studios, Demons Souls screw up, lack of support for hits like Bloodborne.

 

[bitbydeath]

Hermen, Shu let go of Evolution Studios which is simply unforgivable, Hermen effectively rehired them again by purchasing FireSprite.

 

[Jubenhimer]

Shu actually had a lot of fails with Japan. Losing Ueda, decline of Japan Studios, Demons Souls screw up, lack of support for hits like Bloodborne.

I honestly think Shu made a genuine attempt to save JAPAN Studio in the PS4 era, putting Alan Becker (co-founder of Santa Monica Studio) in charge, and trying to shift it towards bigger titles like The Last Guardian, Gravity Rush, Astro Bot etc.

 

[nial]

So far, Hermen managed to get the PlayStation 5 off to a strong start, with AAA hits like Miles Morales, Returnal, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Horizon: Forbidden West, all coming out in the first year of the system.

He didn't greenlight any of those games, Shu did. In fact, none of Hermen's games have been released so far, but looking at Death Stranding 2 and Rise of the Ronin, I think he's off to a pretty decent start.

 

[lh032]

isnt shu the one that dissed demon souls in the first place? otherwise Sony would have own from now.

 

[Jubenhimer]

He didn't greenlight any of those games, Shu did. In fact, none of Hermen's games have been released so far, but looking at Death Stranding 2 and Rise of the Ronin, I think he's off to a pretty decent start.

It's not just about green lighting games though. It's also about supporting and pushing the teams to make the best game they can while delivering it in a timely manner. While some of these projects were green lit by previous management, It was ultimately Hermen's team and leadership that saw these games through completion, and got them out as soon as they did, especially since the PS5 launched at the height of COVID hysteria.

On that front, I think Hermen and Co. did a pretty good job ensuring the PS5 had the best first year it possibly could given the circumstance. I think one of Shu's weaker points, was that he would sometimes let the studios take too long to make games. That's great in some cases, Delayed game is eventually good and what not. But that also means that the PS4 had a pretty weak first year or so regarding first party content. It wasn't until 2015 that Sony's output actually started looking good.

 

[ZehDon]

Shu is more than a little responsible for Sony's first party being as strong as it is, making sure the dev's were allowed their freedom to get the platform the top tier games it needed.

Hulst still needs to earn his stripes, so the jury's out for me. As part of Ryan's GaaS push, we'll start to see the fruits of his labour soon enough. He helped get the PS5 off to a strong start, but, it's also a roster of "more of the same" sequels and remakes that's hard to get excited about. Hopefully they've got more interesting things in store.

 

[nial]

It's not just about green lighting games though. It's also about supporting and pushing the teams to make the best game they can while delivering it in a timely manner. While some of these projects were green lit by previous management, It was ultimately Hermen's team and leadership that saw these games through completion, and got them out as soon as they did, especially since the PS5 launched at the height of COVID hysteria.

On that front, I think Hermen and Co. did a pretty good job ensuring the PS5 had the best first year it possibly could given the circumstance. I think one of Shu's weaker points, was that he would sometimes let the studios take too long to make games. That's great in some cases, Delayed game is eventually good and what not. But that also means that the PS4 had a pretty weak first year or so regarding first party content. It wasn't until 2015 that Sony's output actually started looking good.

That's fair enough for sure.

 

[Iced Arcade]

Hermen, Shu let go of Evolution Studios which is simply unforgivable, Hermen effectively rehired them again by purchasing FireSprite.

Huh?

Didn't Evolution Studios get pickup by Codemasters (I could be wrong)

 

[Jubenhimer]

Huh?

Didn't Evolution Studios get pickup by Codemasters (I could be wrong)

I think he means Studio Liverpool (WipeOut Devs).

 

[mansoor1980]

thought it was phil spencer in the poll

 

[Beer Baelly]

Shoe

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

Whoever was in charge in the PS3.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Second half of PS3 / first half of PS4 life cycle was peak PlayStation.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Herman has a waaaaay tougher job than the other two and he seems to be making the right decisions...so you have to give it to Herman Hulst.

 

[NahaNago]

I'd go with Shu for now. Hermen jumped on at the peak of playstation so we'll see in the next few years how he does.

 

[Ar¢tos]

There are 5 people very confused and angry with life here...

 

[SpokkX]

Shuhei did an amazing job on ps4 and Herman has done a really good job so far but it has been to short time to really judge, we are probably seing much of Shuheis work still

 

[GymWolf]

Never got a head from any of these gentlemen so i can't tell.

 

[supernova8]

Our boy Agent Phil every time baby.
He was clearly sent to Microsoft (Xbox became shit after he joined lol) and then Google (Stadia was a plant by Harrison to drain Google's resources) on purpose to sabotage them.

 

[Banjo64]

Not even close, it’s Shu. Herman is delivering safe games.

 

[jufonuk]

In another universe this guy

 

[Three]

In another universe this guy

I'm not sure what I'm looking at here other than VHS quality.

 

[RoadHazard]

Shu. But mostly because I just love the guy (and that whole group of awesome PS4 people). The others, not as much.

 

[Black_Stride]

Huh?

Didn't Evolution Studios get pickup by Codemasters (I could be wrong)

Evolution Studios was shutdown by Sony. (After already gutting the studio)
Codemasters felt sorry for their brothers in arms (making racing games) and absorbed a bunch of them who then became Codemasters Evo.
Codemasters Evo was then absorbed into Criterion Games.

Truth of the matter Sony killed Evolution Studio and likely threw away what was an amazing rendering engine along with it.


But I think the poster is thinking about the Wipeout devs.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Herman and Shu

 

[StealthGoblin]

I’m gonna give it to Herman, but it was difficult. Shu was absolutely fantastic for what PlayStation needed to be during the PS3/PS4 era. Hands down ace.

Herman, I feel, is the man to manage the multi-pronged approach Sony are doing now. He’s likeable, been in the trenches and knows the business well. Where he needs to improve is getting PlayStation Studio staff in more prominent public facing positions so there are a few more faces to PlayStation.

He’s got a lot on his plate:

- managing PS studios and its growth
- overseeing Sony’s PC initiative
- overseeing their mobile push
- working with PlayStation productions
- building out a strong GAAS option.
- maintaining the quality of Sony’s single player games

That’s a tough job but I think he’s doing really well.

 

[Pelta88]

I prefer my gaming execs to talk less and deliver more. Which puts Shu in first place.

 

[Dafegamer]

Jack Tretton and Shu Yoshida. Tretton was a savage at times

 

[Heisenberg007]

As of now, I think Shu stands out the most.

However, I think Hermen might end up better (in terms of the quantity of high-quality games he delivers) when all is said and done.

 

[Interfectum]

Shuhei Yoshida​