Sony Interactive Entertainment Global Second Party Games head Gio Corsi leaves PlayStation

Gio Corsi, the head of Global Second Party Games at Sony Interactive Entertainment, left PlayStation as of last week, Corsi announced.

[Segata]

He got Yakuza in the west and was a big reason western Vita gor pretty much any thord party support. This is a bummer.

[nowitzki2004]

I thank him, Yakuza is one of my favorite series.

[Chocoburger]

He also played a role with "building the list" which helped get Yu Suzuki on stage for E3 to promote Shenmue III, among other games! Gio will be missed, and I hope whoever replaces him, keeps building the list that focuses on what the fans want, rather than what the shareholders want.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PS...

[Segata]

Yikes sorry for the spelling errors. I was dead tired and didn't proof read.

[Obscure_Observer]

Lots of people leaving since Jim Ryan took over. Best of luck to you, Gio Corsi.

[Jin_Sakai]

That fake concern. The team that launch PS5 will be much different that the team that launched PS4. Its good to get some fresh blood and continue moving forward. Can’t wait for PS5!

[KwietStorm_BLM]

So did you not approve of the team that launched PS4?

[Christopher]

***So did you not approve of the team that launched PS4?***

I actually had issues with those in management who were resistant to allowing third-party services and restricting cross-play features and wanted to treat the PS4 as it was above everyone else.

[timotim]

Fake concern huh? This was YOU, just because a PRODUCER left 343i just a few weeks ago...

"Jin_Sakai22d ago (Edited 22d ago )
There’s definitely trouble in paradise.

Especially when the creative director and now the lead producer leaves before the game is finished.
Agree 80Disagree 83"

But you have Shawn Layden and multiple key talent and executives leaving Sony before PS5 launches and he isn't allowed to be concerned? Really??? Such hypocrisy...

[SolidGamerX]

Exactly lots of fake concern from people who admittedly don't even own Playstation consoles.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Really hope all these long time members leaving doesn't mess up the brand.

[GaboonViper]

I fear for the PS brand, its going the way of Mattrick and Spencer during the launch of Xbone.

[MasterCornholio]

And wheres your proof of that?

I mean your claiming that they are going to screw up the PS5 so im wondering where you are getting the information from.

[GaboonViper]

Just worried fam, all these people leaving, especially Layden, has got me spooked.

[MasterCornholio]

Doesn't mean Sony will pull an Xbox One with the PS5. Alot of the plans are already set in stone for the system plus many of Sony studios will produce really good games for it. I personally am not worried about this.

[rainslacker]

How so? As far as I can tell, Sony hasn't laid off the releases in the last two years of PS4's life to stack the PS5's launch line up. Sony hasn't shown any interest in changing their business paradigm to an all services machine the way MS did, and there are no rumors as of yet that PS5 will be always connected, or rife with anti-consumer DRM policies. Sony also isn't going on and on about services as if they are the next place to wage war, at least not to the extent that MS has the past few years.

So far, there is absolutely nothing that even closely resembles anything that Mattrick did with the 360 and launch of the X1, and Spencer was barely present during the X1 launch marketing, so why even bring his name up? As it is, Spencer is acting more like Sony with their success, than Sony is acting like Spencer at any time in his career.

[DarXyde]

The concerns are fair. In my humble opinion, we've seen a lot change at Playstation since PS3 and they're stronger than ever. Kuturagi stepping out of the limelight, Kaz going, House, Tretton... on a studio level, Straley, Hennig, and a few others who escape me. I can see the worry since this is a lot of senior staff leaving at once. I really don't know what it means, but like 343, I don't think it is helpful to assume to worst.

Let's see what comes to pass.

[GaboonViper]

Thank you, my thoughts too, nice to meet someone on this site who isnt a blind fanatic, PS5 is day one, soon as the pre orders go up, its mine, but Layden leaving, lets be honest, forced out, has left me a little concerned is all, i liked Shawn, he was genuine, i believe he had PS best interest at heart, and as soon as he goes, PSNow starts being rammed down our throat.

At the end of the day all i want from PS5 is quality SP exclusives that i cant play anywhere else, i dont want them on PC, i want what we had this gen, new IP, great new characters, i said this on twitter and everyone shares my concern and worry, but this site, bloody hell, i was told it was PS fanboy cesspitt but never expected such slaving, hell i kind of feel sorry bad mouthing Krib LOL, anyway as long as PS5 continues PS4 awesome SP games i will be there day one just like PS4.

[gravedigger]

So long, Gio! You've a great job. Thank you for Yakuza.

That man surely loved Vita.

[rainslacker]

Yeah. His name came up a lot for us Vita fans. He did great work getting support for it. It's too bad that Sony pulled the rug out from under the system after the PS4 suddenly became a megahit.

[UltraNova]

Its such a shame Sony giving up on the Vita when all they had to do was double down on releasing games on it.

One reason would be they had to make a decision during their hard financial times and that let to choosing to support only their mainline console and its services and cut costs by abandoning their handheld(the fact that it wasn't doing that well against Nintendo back then made the decision easier).

[rainslacker]

I think from a business perspective, it made sense. PS4 was suddenly helping them immensely in fixing their financial troubles at the time, which was mostly due to stock devaluation and bloat in infrastructure, coupled with underperformance on some major products. It makes sense to focus on that, especially when their closest competition had given then so much of a boost early on. Nintendo certainly was doing well with the 3DS, so they had an uphill battle there, with a limited and dwindling market.

Vita was expensive to make, and Sony's own decisions made it a tough sell. It certainly could have done better if they supported it longer, or with more effort, but despite the narrative that it had no games or support, Sony did try to get support for the system for several years, and they even released some great games for it.

Beyond the reasonable criticisms involving memory cards and some other issues, many people still would never give it it's fair chance at any turn. The narrative was way too strong that the system wasn't worth it, and I could probably agree after the 3rd year due to most of the support being just Japanese niche games. Great for someone like me, but I'm reasonable enough to realize that that isn't going to appeal to the broader market.

Sony did try to make Vita work though. They made the cheaper version. Provided some excellent 1st and 2nd party software, and seemed to be trying to get more 3rd party major game support on the system. PSTV seemed like something Andrew House was really excited about, and the Vita was obviously designed alongside the PS4 to be a complimentary device. Nintendo eventually combined the idea of what PS4/Vita was supposed to be collectively into a single platform, coupled with their own Nintendo flare, which pretty much sealed the deal for the Vita, because Nintendo was still much stronger in the portable market.

It is a shame, but in the end, it's hard to blame Sony for giving up on it. People weren't interested, and they did make an attempt which may not have been enough, but was not something I'd consider complete lack of faith or abandonment. That came later, after the larger market obviously proved it wasn't receptive.

[UltraNova]

Valid points. The market was simply not ready for the Vita and Sony wasn't helping its case by making some design flaws of their own.That's all in the history books now.

That said, do you believe there's a chance, going forward, that Sony will try their hand in the handheld business again, considering they are deep in VR support and their regular console business and all those services that come with it?

[Sophisticated_Chap]

Looks like there is wholesale change happening over at Sony. We've never seen this many exectives leave before the launch of a next generation of console, like we have with the upcoming PS5.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Fun fact:

The people that launched PS4 were not the same people that launched PS1 or PS2. And the ones that were there were in different positions then and not head executives or managing positions.

On a side note, Wakanda forever! A technologically advanced society would definitely love playing PSP.

[GaboonViper]

That does make me feel better, but still concerned about these departures lately, i just hope Yoshida and Ryan have the same passion for PS as Kaz, House, Tretton and co.

[ShinjukuSon]

Tretton was the best.

[MasterCornholio]

Shuhei Yoshida?

Yeah I wouldn't worry about his passion for games at all. Don't even know why you even mentioned him.

[Wulfer]

Another fun fact: Sony didn't have a bunch of departures and infighting going on during those times. Really, this reminds me of the Sega Japan / Sega America feud. Sega of Japan won that fight and look where Sega is today. Not saying Sega Japan was bad but, they didn't know the American market and they didn't know what would sell in America and more importantly at what price!

Has Sony has grown so, big that they fail to remember the past? How is that even possible after the success of the PS4? Then again Xbox failed to learn from it's mistakes so I guess so.

[rainslacker]

Since near the middle of last gen, PS Europe has been more in control of PlayStation than PS US or JP. They moved the headquarters to the US, but the goal wasn't to try and make things American, just a consolidation of their headquarters as a whole.

I think all branches knew what worked where, as they all worked together.

PlayStation isn't in a power struggle between regions. That doesn't make sense since a lot of the people who have left were in the US branch anyways, and most of the departures have actually been people that wouldn't have much effect on the direction of PS as a whole. Some are, but the narrative is getting diluted over all these years.

If there is any power struggle, it's based on where to take the brand next. But, hardware is still part of that brand, at least for next gen, so i doubt all these changes are going to have much effect on the PS hardware itself, and it's unlikely that it will have a change on the output of their games, because all branches seem to recognize the power that their game releases have to sell their product.

[AK91]

Cya later Corsi thanks for everything.

[Miacosa]

Wonder if he's going to Stadia.

[Segata]

He love his handhelds maybe he goes to Nintendo. Nintendo hired the man who loves to talk about his drunken cocaine adventures with crackwhores who used to run Disney Infinity who is now in charge of 3rd party relations and best friends with Adam Boyes. Johnny V. JV was good buds with people at Sony so maybe he lures him over.

[Miacosa]

John Drake, oh maybe. That's a very good guess.

[goldwyncq]

Now the Vita truly is dead.

[Edito]

People need to understand that for these guys it's better to leave a healthy company rather than a sinking ship... Pay attention to the timings everyone is leaving since Jack Tretton, they all want to leave behind a good legacy and that is good...

[BlaqMagiq1]

Thank you Gio for #buildingthelist and remembering the Vita. Good luck to you in everything you do.