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PlayStation hardware architect Masayasu Ito to retire

Ito led the design and development of the PS4 and PS5 as well as being involved in many more products since he joined Sony in 1986.

TJ Denzer

September 6, 2022 8:11 AM

Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment

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Among PlayStation’s army of hardware designers and engineers, Masayasu Ito is notable to say the least. His expertise guided the company in the development of landmark products, including the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Unfortunately, after decades of work with Sony, Ito seems ready to hang it up. The PlayStation architect has announced his retirement, which will go into effect by October.

Masayasu Ito’s retirement was announced recently, first by Bloomberg, and then officially by Sony Interactive Entertainment via its Japanese site. Ito will officially exit Sony Interactive Entertainment on October 1, 2022, leaving his position as Representative Director and Executive Vice President to Rin Tou. Reportedly, after his resignation, Ito will take up a mobility-related position with Sony Group. He is also said to continue supporting Sony Interactive Entertainmen’'s Platform Experience Group as an executive advisor up until March 2023.

Masayasu Ito first joined Sony in 1986. Beginning as a technician and engineer on car audio parts, Ito would move on to join PlayStation and become an instrumental engineer in the development of new consoles. Ito led the development of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 architecture. Ito doesn’t appear in the PlayStation 5 teardown and disassembly video that came out prior to its launch in 2020, but the entirety of its design and internal arrangement is his work. While the PS4 would go on to sell over 117 million units, the PS5 has been plagued with supply issues due in large part to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the semiconductor famine, and the consoles very specific custom design inside and out, the latter of which has proven to be a challenge for PlayStation’s component manufacturers.

Nonetheless, Masayasu Ito’s long tenure with PlayStation has produced quite some results. As he exits his role with the company, it will be interesting to see how future PlayStation products shape up in Ito’s absence.

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.