The chief architect of the PlayStation is leaving Sony

Masayasu Ito will leave the company on Oct. 1 after 36 years. The company tells Bloomberg Ito is retiring. 

While Ito’s retirement is a mandatory one because of his age, he will still be involved with the mobility business of Sony G, a division that focuses on electric vehicles.

Ito started with Sony in 1986, working on the company’s automotive audio equipment. In 2000 he moved to the PlayStation division, right as the PlayStation 2 era began and Sony’s strength in the video game industry became almost overwhelming.

He led the engineering for the PS4 and PS4 Pro, which together sold over 117 million units and helped Sony regain ground after the PS3 fell short of expectations. He also oversaw the PS5, which—despite being constricted by supply-chain issues—has been a hit with consumers, with retailers still selling out within minutes when new stock arrives.

“We began conceptualizing PS5 in 2015, and we’ve spent the past five years designing and developing the console,” he wrote on Sony’s PlayStation blog as the launch of the PS5 neared in 2020. “Our team values a well thought out, beautifully designed architecture. Inside the console is an internal structure looking neat and tidy, which means that there aren’t any unnecessary components and the design is efficient. As a result, we’re able to achieve our goal of creating a product with a high degree of perfection and quality.”