New heads for SCE Worldwide Studios in Europe and America

Sony has announced promotions for two of its senior Worldwide Studios executives, naming new heads for its European and American studio operations.

Michael Denny and Scott Rohde have stepped up to become WWS region heads for Europe and America, respectively.

In their new roles, Denny and Rohda will assume overall responsibility for WWS operations in each region including managing all internal studios and external productions.

Yasuhide Kobayashi will continue to manage Japan Studio as Senior Vice President.

Denny, who previously oversaw SCEE external development and the studios in Liverpool, now becomes senior vice president. He joined Psygnosis at the launch of PlayStation in Europe in 1995 as head of business affairs. In 2000, he moved to SCEE Product Development in the new role of director of External Development, and was promoted to VP in 2002. He oversaw the release/signing of games such as Formula 1, WRC, Killzone, Buzz, MotorStorm and LittleBigPlanet.

"I’m looking forward to this new challenge, and in particular, the opportunity to further my work with the many talented development teams, both internally & externally, that make up WWS Europe… we have an unprecedented portfolio of AAA titles this year, such as MotorStorm:Pacific Rift, Singstar, Buzz Quiz TV, LittleBigPlanet & Killzone 2, which we’re looking forward to showcasing further, over the coming months."

Former SCEA San Diego studios head Scott Rohde, meanwhile, will be promoted to VP of Sony Worldwide Studios America.

Rohde has been Senior Director of the San Diego Studios since 2003, where his team was focused on sports development, including the MLB, NBA and ATV franchises, as well as PSN titles PAIN and High Velocity Bowling. Prior to joining SCEA, Rohde had various product development management roles in the industry including co-founder and director of development of Page 44 Studios, production director for a Radical Entertainment/ESPN joint venture and Sports production management at Sega of America.

Both Rohde and Denny will report to Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios.