Game Changer: Iconic PlayStation Executive Bids Farewell After 34-Year Legacy

Highlights

Sony Interactive Entertainment's SVP and Head of Internal Production, Connie Booth, has left the company after working there since 1989.

Booth has held numerous high-ranking roles in Sony's gaming division and had been serving as the SVP and Head of Internal Production at SIE since 2020.

Though the exact reasons for her departure remain unknown, insider sources indicate that she was terminated and her team was escorted out of the premises. Angie Smets, the current VP of PlayStation Studios and Head of Development Strategy, is rumored to be her successor.

According to a recently surfaced report, Connie Booth, the SVP and Head of Internal Production at Sony Interactive Entertainment, has departed from the company. Booth had been a part of the conglomerate since 1989 and initially worked at Sony Electronic Publishing Company before joining what was then called Sony Computer Entertainment in 1995.

Booth has been associated with Sony's gaming division since the early days of the original PlayStation console, which was less than a year old at the time. Throughout her tenure, she held various leadership positions, starting as an Executive Producer in 1997, then progressing to Director of Product Development in 1998. She was later promoted to a senior director role in 2007, and in 2012, she became the Vice President of the department. Booth had been serving as the SVP and Head of Internal Production at SIE since 2020.

According to David Jaffe, former creator of the God of War series and employee at SIE, the gaming giant, Booth's tenure at the company has now ended. In a video posted on his YouTube channel on October 23, Jaffe revealed that Booth left SIE earlier this year, based on information from multiple sources. The specific circumstances surrounding her departure remain unclear, but Jaffe shared insider accounts suggesting that she was actually fired. Furthermore, it has been reported that her team was made to leave the building as a result of this supposed fallout.

While the insider admitted uncertainty about the dramatic nature of the accounts regarding her departure, he confirmed that Booth is no longer employed at SIE. This claim has been corroborated by two Sony officials and two external sources. Jaffe also reported that Angie Smets, Vice President and Head of Development Strategy at PlayStation Studios, has replaced Booth. Smets, originally from the Netherlands, has held her current position since April after leaving Guerrilla Games, where she had worked for 20 years.

It is unclear if Booth left SIE during the spring. Typically, high-level executive changes in large companies like Sony are publicly announced promptly, or even in advance, especially when they occur on amicable terms. A recent example of this practice at SIE is the retirement announcement of Jim Ryan, the head of PlayStation, in late September. If Booth is indeed no longer with Sony, the fact that her departure has not yet been announced supports Jaffe's claim that she was terminated.