Summary
Sony Interactive Entertainment SVP and Head of Internal Production Connie Booth has left thePlayStationmaker, according to a newly emerged report. Booth has been with the conglomerate since 1989, having originally worked at Sony Electronic Publishing Company before joiningSIE back when it was still called Sony Computer Entertainmentin 1995.
Booth has hence worked at Sony’s gaming division sincethe original PlayStation consolewas less than a year old. She spent the majority of her time at the company in senior leadership positions, having first been appointed Executive Producer in 1997 before being promoted to Director of Product Development a year later. She was then elevated to a senior director role in 2007 before becoming the department’s VP in 2012. Booth served as the SIE SVP and Head of Internal Production since 2020.
Her stint at the gaming giant has now come to an end, according to David Jaffe, a former SIE employee best known asthe creator of theGod of Warseries. In an October 23 video posted on his YouTube channel, Jaffe reported that Booth left SIE earlier this year, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter. Although the circumstances leading to her purported departure from the company are unclear, Jaffe relayed several insider accounts suggesting she was fired. Moreover, her team was supposedly “walked out of the building” as part of that supposed fallout.
While the insider admitted to being uncertain about whether those accounts of her departure are overly “dramatic,” he insisted that Booth is definitely no longer at SIE. The claim itself is said to have been corroborated by two current Sony officials, as well as two external sources. Jaffe also reported that Booth was replaced by PlayStation Studios VP and Head of Development Strategy Angie Smets. The Netherlands-born executive has been in her current role since April,when she leftHorizondeveloper Guerrilla Gamesfollowing a 20-year stint at the studio.
Whether Booth already left SIE back in spring is unclear. High-level executive changes at companies the size of Sony are commonly communicated to the public with little delay, or even in advance, at least when they happen on amicable terms. The most recent example of that practice at SIE isPlayStationboss Jim Ryan’s retirement announcement from late September. Assuming Booth is indeed no longer at Sony, the fact that her departure has yet to be announced seemingly adds credence to Jaffe’s claim that she was fired.
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