The head of PlayStation Mobile Nicola Sebastiani is out, reports MobileGamer.biz. While all of the details of Sebastiani’s departure are not entirely clear, it’s being said that he left the company to “pursue a new, undisclosed opportunity.”
The decision to leave probably comes as a surprise. After all Sony’s PlayStation Mobile division is a fledgling segment of its gaming arm. It was established in July of 2021 so it’s not even a full two years old. Sony has also yet to release any games under that division.
Sebastiani joined the team at SIE as head of PlayStation Mobile for PlayStation Studios shortly after the division was created. Sony brought him over from Apple where he previously heled the roles of head of business management and content lead for Apple Arcade. During his time with SIE, he helped Sony acquire Savage Game Studios. Although that studio itself is young and was only just created in 2020, it was already working on a AAA live service action game for mobile. Which it now will be launching under the PlayStation Mobile umbrella.
Sony has already replaced the head of PlayStation Mobile
Without a person to head up the division, things could easily slow down and come to a crawl. But it seems that won’t be the case here as Sony has already replaced Sebastiani.
Both Kris Davies and Olivier Courtemanche are reported to have been appointed as co-heads of PlayStation Mobile at PlayStation Studios. Both also worked at SIE in the PlayStation Mobile division in previous roles. Having both been brought on in 2022.
Sony has yet to release a game under this new division. It’s also not clear which games the division is working on other than the unannounced title from Savage Game Studios. But SIE President Jim Ryan has said in the past that he wants to bring PlayStation’s first party IP to mobile.