Olivier Courtemanche is PlayStation’s new head of mobile.
The former Meta and Zynga exec steps into the role having shared PlayStation mobile leadership duties with ex-Kabam bizdev exec Kris Davis since June 2023.
At the same time, PlayStation Studios has also appointed Justin Kubiak as head of mobile business development and partnerships. Kubiak was previously licensing and developer partnerships for mobile at PlayStation Studios, having previously worked at Samsung, NCsoft, Scopely, Disney and EA.
Courtemanche and Kubiak made the announcements on LinkedIn. Courtemanche joined PlayStation Studios in April 2022 as senior director and head of mobile product, moving over from a product management role at Meta. He has also worked in product management at EA, Disney and Zynga.
Following the departure of former PlayStation Mobile boss Nicola Sebastiani in June 2023, Courtemanche and former Kabam exec Kris Davis were appointed co-leads of mobile at PlayStation Studios.
PlayStation’s mobile efforts took a blow recently with the closure of Neon Koi. The developer formerly known as Savage Game Studios was working on an action game and had offices in Finland and Germany. The studio never shipped a game, and was closed leaving 38 staff out of a job.
Sony bought Savage Games Studios in August 2022 amid a hiring spree that suggested it would soon be making a big play in the mobile space. But it has gone very quiet since then, and last month PlayStation Studios announced that it was closing Neon Koi, as well as Firewalk, maker of short-lived shooter Concord.
PlayStation Studios boss Herman Hulst said of the Neon Koi closure: “While mobile remains a priority growth area for the Studio Business, we are in the very early stage of our mobile efforts. To achieve success in this area we need to concentrate on titles that are in-line with PlayStation Studios’ pedigree and have the potential to reach more players globally.”
Hulst said that Sony will be working to place staff from Neon Koi (and Firewalk) elsewhere within PlayStation Studios where possible.
