Ahead of his departure in March, outgoing Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan has been reflecting on his time at the company and the challenges he faced, including the launch of the PS5 during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the PlayStation boss says that he projected an air of calm and confidence at the time, internally, he knew just how much more difficult his job was about to become.
“It was my job to exude a sense of calm and serenity,” Ryan said to Variety. “Actually, I was there at my dining-room table, head in my hands, wondering how we were going to do this.”
At the time, the pandemic had seen major changes across the globe as companies were forced to adapt while deaths caused by and related to COVID-19 began to dramatically escalate. China had some of the toughest lockdown rules in effect and was also the main source for the manufacture of PS5 consoles. Beyond that, Sony still had to figure out how it was going to sell the consoles when people were encouraged to avoid retail shopping unless strictly necessary.