Guerrilla boss Hulst promoted to head of PlayStation studios

Guerrilla Games co-founder Hermen Hulst has been named PlayStation’s new head of Worldwide Studios.

Hulst starts his new role immediately and will manage all of Sony‘s 14 internal studios, reports GI.biz.

The move will see Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida leave his current role to lead a new initiative that will look after smaller independent studios.

Former Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden left PlayStation in October.

Angie Smets, Jan-Bart van Beek and Michiel van der Leeuw will take over as joint studio heads at Horizon Zero Dawn studio Guerrilla.

The changes are part of PlayStation’s restructuring ahead of the launch of PS5, its next generation console planned for 2020.

PlayStation has spent the past two years centralising its operations into one global organisation, headquartered in San Mateo, California.

“Hermen is a European who will be taking one of the major offices at PlayStation,” PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan told GI. “I think everybody in Europe should be thrilled and happy and proud that that is happening.”

He continued: “Hermen is one of the most effective and well-respected leaders in the video game industry. He is a passionate advocate for the teams he leads and understands how to empower creative talent to build great experiences.

“I have no doubt Hermen can lead our teams to deliver compelling and diverse experiences at a steady cadence.”

Hulst said: “I have worked closely with PlayStation and the entire Worldwide Studios family since 2001,and I have the utmost respect and admiration for the creative talent and ambitious ideas within the network of studios across the US, Europe, and Japan.”

As described in the first PlayStation 5 details article, the next-gen PlayStation has dramatically reduced loading times compared to PS4 Pro, with players able to fast travel across game worlds near-instantaneously.