Sony will lose one of its most important people in development for PlayStation. According to a report from bloomberg, Masayasu Ito, vice president of hardware for Sony Interactive Entertainment, will retire next month. Ito was responsible for PS4 and PS5, as well as other major products during his 36 years with the company.
Masayasu Ito resigns as Head of SIE Equipment Division next October 1st. However, the PlayStation architect will continue to collaborate in the mobile division and as an executive advisor until March 2023. His departure is significant as he was responsible not only for the success of the PlayStation 4, but also for devices such as PlayStation VR and PlayStation 4 Pro which helped solidify Sony’s position in the video game industry.
Although Ito joined Sony in 1986, it wasn’t until the 2000s that he joined the PlayStation ranks. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was PSP Lead Mechanical Engineer and PS3 Lead Hardware Engineer. In April 2008, he took up the position of Vice President of Hardware Engineering at SCEI and oversaw the architecture of the PlayStation 4, one of Sony’s most successful consoles.
From the PSOne LCD screen to the development of the PlayStation 4 and 5
Remember the famous PS5 teardown video? The protagonist is none other than Masayasu Ito, who started the console design process in 2015. In it, Ito mentioned his philosophy when creating products under the PlayStation brand.
Our team appreciates thoughtful and beautifully designed architecture. The internal structure of the console looks clean and uncluttered, which means there are no unnecessary components and an efficient design. As a result, we can achieve our goal of creating a product with a high degree of perfection and quality.
Masayasu Ito
Itoh’s departure comes at a key moment when Sony is working hard to ensure the existence of the PS5. While sales records were broken at launch, chip shortages and supply chain issues are making distribution difficult. On top of this, PlayStation decided to increase the price of the console in several regions due to financial uncertainty.
Lin Tao will take on Ito’s role as Director of Equipment Development and Operations in Japan. For his part, Hideaki Nishino, who took over as senior vice president in March 2021, will be in charge of the PlayStation platform. Ito’s retirement was not marked by fanfare; Sony limited itself to publishing a brief announcement of executive changes.
While we tend to associate PlayStation hardware with names like Ken Kutaragi or Mark Czerny, Masayasu Ito is an important part of the brand. The Waseda University graduate mechanical engineer carries with him milestones such as the PSOne LCD screen, some PS2 peripherals, PS4 software design, and numerous iterations of DualShock controllers over five generations of consoles into ones that worked.
Source: Hiper Textual
