PlayStation just lost the ex-Apple exec it hired to spearhead its mobile games push
They've been replaced with heavy hitters from Facebook / Meta and Kabam.
There's big movement at the head of Sony's mobile gaming department, with its head of VP Nicola Sebastiani stepping down from the role to pursue "a new, undisclosed opportunity". In his place, heavy hitters from Meta and Kabam are stepping in as co-heads.
Sebastiani, who had roughly eight years of experience at Apple when they were brought under Sony's big umbrella back in 2021 alongside developer Savage Game Studios, was a key figure in Sony's push to secure a future on the mobile gaming market. They're reasons for leaving, confirmed by Mobilegamer.biz, remains mysterious.
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But with Sebastiani out the door, who are his replacements? The first is Olivier Courtemanche. Before this new role, he was a product manager over at Meta, specifically working on its Horizon social platform as head of content. This meant bringing music, sports, and streaming experiences to Meta's VR metaverse. Before that, they clocked in a whopping six years at Zynga too, the majority of time spent as a director of product.
Hopping in as Sony's co-lead is Kris Davis. No, not the pianist. This Kris Davis had been working at PlayStation for just over a year as head of Mobile BD before moving up into the new co-lead role with Sebastiani's departure. Before Sony, Davis had been at Kabam for nearly eight years.
Kabam, for those unfamiliar with the mobile gaming space, are responsible for a platter of popular mobile titles including Transformers: Forged to Fight, Marvel: Contest of Champions, Star Wars: Uprising, and numerous others. It's been a pretty significant developer in the mobile space for some time now.
So although Sebastiani is clearly leaving some big shoes to fill as they head out towards new ventures, you've got a new pair with chunky CVs able to pop both feet into one big shoe each. Together, they'll need to try and establish PlayStation in the mobile space. At the moment, all the company really has is Remote Play, a feature that requires you to have a PlayStation console and lets you stream select games to your mobile device. Not much tailor-made for mobile platforms, though!
What do you think of this new change in leadership over at Sony's mobile gaming division? Do you think the duo will do a good job, and what about Sony's plans for mobile? Let us know what you think down below!