PlayStation has announced that Hermen Hulst, former Managing Director of Guerrilla Games, will be the new head of SIE Worldwide Studios.
Hulst started at Worldwide Studios effective immediately and will deal with the game projects of all fourteen Sony internal studios. The position was previously filled by Shuhei Yoshida. It is now known that Yoshida will play a different role within the organization. He will lead a new initiative that will deal with external, independent studios.
In a conversation with GamesIndustry.biz, Jim Ryan, CEO of PlayStation, stated that the appointment of Hulst is a sign of global thinking at Sony in the process of transition to the next generation.
“Hermen is a European and is going to take over one of the main PlayStation offices, I think everyone in Europe should be proud and excited that this happened,” said Jim Ryan.
According to Ryan, Hermen Hulst is one of the most effective and respected leaders in the game industry. Furthermore, Ryan says that Hulst performs his work passionately and is an example to his staff. Ryan has no doubt that Hulst can live up to its status within SIE Worldwide.
These position changes are part of the restructuring within Sony Interactive Entertainment in the run-up to PlayStation 5. Earlier, PlayStation Worldwide Studios president Shawn Layden left Sony. No specific reason was given for his departure at the time, but there is a chance that this may also be due to the restructuring of the tech giant.
Guerrilla Games is best known for Horizon Zero Dawn and the Killzone franchise. In addition, the studio recently collaborated with Kojima Productions during the making of Death Stranding. Hermen Hulst’s position within Guerrilla Games is now being filled by Angie Smets, Jan-Bart van Beek and Michiel van der Leeuw. A recent Job opportonity from Guerrilla Games may have confirmed that the Amsterdam studio is currently working on a sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn.
Not only is Sony happy with the appointment of Hulst, Hermen is also happy with his new position. “I have been working closely with the SIE Worldwide family since 2001 and have the utmost respect and admiration for the network of studios,” says Hulst.