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Guerrilla Games' Hermen Hulst to take helm of PlayStation Worldwide Studios

The Guerrilla Games co-founder will be taking up the role of President of Worldwide Studios overseeing PlayStation's internal developers.

TJ Denzer

November 7, 2019 9:57 AM

Major players are moving about at PlayStation as of recent. It seems pretty clear that the Sony’s gaming branch is going through a major restructuring as they gear up for the PlayStation 5. As a part of this restructuring, Guerrilla Games (Killzone, Horizon: Zero Dawn) Co-Founder and Managing Director Herman Hulst has stepped into the role of President of of Worldwide Studios at PlayStation, taking over management of Sony’s 14 internal studios.

Hulst’s move into the new role at PlayStation was announced on November 7, 2019, as reported by gamesindustry.biz. Hulst is moving to replace Shuhei Yoshida in the Worldwide Studios President role. Yoshida is reportedly exiting the role to lead up efforts by PlayStation to assist and grow smaller and indie external gaming studios.

Back at Guerrilla Games, Executive Producer Angie Smets, Studio Art Director Jan-Bart van Beek and Technical Director Michiel van der Leeuw will be taking on a joint leadership of the studio in Hulst’s stead.

Congratulations @HermenHulst on your new position as President of SIE Worldwide Studios! Thank you for two wonderful decades at the studio – we’re glad to know that you’ll remain close by! https://t.co/hQN3AYAfFl
— Guerrilla (@Guerrilla) November 7, 2019

Hulst’s move into his new role at PlayStation comes just over a month after former Worldwide Studios Chairman Shawn Layden abruptly stepped down from his position. Despite the fact that little reason has been given for why he left so suddenly, Layden had nothing but congrats to give to Hulst moving into his new position.

PlayStation CEO and President Jim Ryan was thrilled to invite Hulst into the role. Speaking to gamesindustry.biz, Ryan claims Hulst’s appointment is a major step in PlayStation’s efforts to develop a growing global mindset.

"Hermen is a European who will be taking one of the major offices at PlayStation," Ryan said. "I think everybody in Europe should be thrilled and happy and proud that that is happening."

With Guerrilla Games just having assisted Kojima Productions in the release of Death Stranding, it may be safe to say Hulst’s soon-former studio is in good hands. That said, as PlayStation shuffles its major players, it will be interesting to see what the future has in store for the company as we get nearer and nearer to the next console generation.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.

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November 7, 2019 9:57 AM

TJ Denzer posted a new article, Guerrilla Games' Hermen Hulst to take helm of PlayStation Worldwide Studios
- Borzoi
  
   reply
  November 7, 2019 10:06 AM
  
  Woah. This is pretty cool news.
  
  Alongside his contributions to a lot of unsung innovations in multiplayer and open world game design, it bolsters my speculation that Sony wants to promote the Decima engine as an alternative to Unreal for next gen.
- hirez
  
   reply
  November 7, 2019 10:26 AM
  
  does this mean more games like HZD. because that's good.
  - Borzoi
    
     reply
    November 7, 2019 10:34 AM
    
    Well, it was already pretty clear that Sony’s PS5 marketing around the “no loading” factor, implied they’d be putting a lot of focus on open world games.
    
    I definitely think we’re going to see a ton of that from Sony going forward. Look at the Decima engine. 80 hour game in a gigantic open map in Death Stranding will just be a taste.
  - JohnnyChugs
    
     reply
    November 7, 2019 11:55 AM
    
    Rumor's been going around that Guerrilla Games has been at work on HZD2 and Hulst left the studio in some very capable hands to basically move down the hall.
    
    I'd say it's likely more of a "when" than an "if".
    - Borzoi
      
       reply
      November 7, 2019 11:59 AM
      
      It’s not just HZD. Look at all the other Sony franchises this go-round. Pretty much everything other than Detroit and Until Dawn were either open world or could easily slip into a more open world direction next time out.