Sony announced today that Hermen Hulst, recently known for his work on Horizon Zero Dawn, will replace Shuhei Yoshida as PlayStation’s Head of Worldwide Studios, which involves leading game development across 14 studios. Yoshida, though leaving his old position, will start a new PlayStation initiative focused on nurturing independent game creators.
This is part of Sony’s restructuring efforts in anticipation for the PlayStation 5, expected this Christmas. Shawn Layden left his position as chairman of Worldwide studios about a month ago, seemingly as part of the same efforts, but Sony did not provide details about his departure. In fact, it was initially announced via a Tweet instead of a more official method of press release.
Hulst, who is European, plans on having a more global perspective and suspects the folks in Europe will be pleased with this news, according to gamesindustry.
“Everybody knows just how passionate Shu is about independent games — they are lifeblood of the industry, making our content portfolio so special for our gamers. These wildly creative experiences deserve focus, and a champion like Shu at PlayStation who will ensure the entire SIE organization works together to better engage with independent developers through a culture of supporting and celebrating their contributions to PlayStation platforms.”
Ryan also spoke about Hurst, who was the co-founder of Guerilla Games, which developed PlayStation exclusives such as Killzone and Horizon Zero Dawn.
