Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the company’s division responsible for gaming consoles and accessories, is losing one of its key architects.
According to Bloomberg News, Masayasu Ito, who led the development of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, will leave his position on October 1st. Ito has been with Sony for 36 years, joining the company in 1986 and working on in-car audio equipment during those early years.
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He moved to the console division in 2000 and has been involved in the development of Sony’s PlayStation devices since then, including the PS Portable and PS4 Pro. He eventually rose to the position of Executive Vice President of Hardware Engineering and Operations and Sony Interactive Entertainment’s representative director.
While Sony did not elaborate on why Ito is leaving in its announcement, the 60-year-old executive is retiring, according to Bloomberg. He will continue to work on “mobility-related assignments” within the Sony Group, and he will also advise SIE over the next 18 months.
He has represented Sony in interviews and other public appearances concerning the PlayStation for several decades.
He spoke with Engadget about the PlayStation Eye camera for the PS4 in 2013 and told us the same year that the Vita TV would be released outside of Japan. He was also the one who announced Project Morpheus would be known as PlayStation VR at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show.
Two years ago, Ito posted a teardown of the PS5 on the PlayStation blog. He said Sony had to make a “generational leap in terms of performance” for its next console generation and had to ensure that all elements of the device work together.
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“It had to find ways to reduce the console’s the noise level, for instance, and increase its cooling capacity to be able to prevent its components from overheating. “In this teardown video of the PS5 console, you will be able to see how we have thoughtfully integrated our technology into this console,” he wrote.
Correction 9/6/22 10:47am: While initially it was reported Ito was leaving Sony entirely, Bloomberg has since corrected its reporting to include the mobility project and advisory capacity he will maintain within Sony for the near-term. Our story has been updated to reflect this.
