Leadership Spotlight: A Conversation with Phil Rosenberg

After a magnificent 20-year tenure with Sony Interactive Entertainment, Phil Rosenberg, SVP of Global Partner Development and Relations, recently announced that he is bidding adieu at the end of 2025. Phil has been a stalwart and integral part of growing the PlayStation brand and, along with this team, has worked tirelessly over the years to ensure all gamers enjoy a vibrant experience on a variety of PlayStation products. 

We had the chance to talk with Phil to go over the highs, lows, challenges, and moments of joy that have shaped Phil’s time with Sony Interactive Entertainment and the PlayStation brand.  

SIE.Blog: Phil thanks for taking the time to speak with us today! You first started working with the PlayStation brand through your previous company, The Performance Marketing Group. What is your recollection of that experience and what did you learn about Sony Computer Entertainment during that time? 

Well, it was a thrilling time. I remember I went to a PlayStation party in Chicago in early 1994. It turned out a few of my old colleagues from an earlier job were going to be the new executive team for SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America). So I was really early in hearing about PlayStation, learning about the promise of PlayStation, and understanding the ambition of Ken Kutaragi (creator of the original PlayStation console. The Father of PlayStation).  

I think some people were skeptical that this would be as big as it turned out to be, but man, Ken had pretty much nailed down what his early vision would evolve to become. That vision has led to our great success these past 30 years. 

I was an outside contractor when we started Performance Marketing. We were kind of a “gun for hire” to manage sales out in the field. When the company moved on from those outside agency agreements, that’s when I joined the PlayStation team in April of 2006 as VP of Business

Development.  I’ve been a part of every hardware launch, including PSP, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita – all of them – since the very beginning. 

SIE.blog: You touched on the anticipation of what the PlayStation brand would become. In your opinion, what is it about the PlayStation brand that has connected so well with gamers and entertainment fans over the years? 

We’ve had a lot of lessons along the way and believe it or not, we were much more immature than you might imagine for our first decade.  

After a huge success with PS2, PlayStation 3 was beyond challenged, and that was kind of a transitional moment for our whole company. Even though it was very hard work, PlayStation 3 helped us find our footing into future gaming generations. First, we had to understand why a connected world is so critical and how it can scale. Next, we needed to remember to take care of developers and creators – help them and support them. And of course, you always have to remember the consumer. I think from there, those principles are still guiding PlayStation. Now PlayStation is a highly trusted and beloved brand all over the world. 

PlayStation 4 gave us an opportunity to really redeem ourselves with the creators, and consumers came along with us for the ride. Fans loved us and their PlayStation 2 and while we might have lost some players with PlayStation 3, they all came back to play on the amazing PS4. The really major blessing of our growth has been and is our relationship with our community. 

SIE.blog: What would you say you will miss the most about your role as leading Partner Relations and Development? 

I think I’ll miss the ability to create benefits for the company, for our partners, and for our community that keeps PlayStation going. I have relationships and friendships all over the world now with so many creators, publishers, our colleagues and I’ll miss that energy. 

But it’s also 20 years! Maybe it’s just time to sail off into the sunset. Even though I still look like the fresh young face of PlayStation, I’m ready to move on to see as many beaches and golf courses as possible! 

SIE.blog: Who is someone that has inspired you during your career, colleague or otherwise? 

What really unlocked my passion for this role and the development of the Global Partner and Developer Relations (GPDR) team was the support of Andy House. Andy was our CEO and also led third-party relations, which he ultimately handed over to me. When Andy left the company, John Kodera came in and he taught me a kinder, quiet, very calm way to support the teams who we knew we had to have support from to be successful. This was John’s very nice way of helping me to understand that with my big personality, sometimes less is more. 

I’ll always remember his steady hand with us as we were bringing more scale to the company with PlayStation 4. 

I’ve also considered Hideaki Nishino a good friend of mine for most of my years as a leader at Sony Interactive Entertainment. It really is incredible to see him progress to become our leader, and I think that he’s going to be an amazing CEO. He is passionate about our product, growth, and innovation. I think this Nishino era is going to be really special. 

SIE.blog: How does your team work together to identify great new franchises and titles? There are so many great games that come from seemingly out of nowhere. What’s in the “secret sauce” to make successful IP happen?  

We have for instance in GPDR, the Content Ventures team led by Christian Svensson. There’s nobody better in the world than Christian and Shawne Benson at finding hidden gems and nurturing up-and-coming companies that are probably off the radar for most of us. They get tons of support from the third-party account management team and the partner development team, who are often the very first points of contact. 

[This team worked with] Annapurna Games very early on games like Stray. The same approach also led our support of Genshin Impact, Black Myth: Wukong and Stellar Blade for example.

Our account teams are passionate and pioneering. We are spending a lot of time right now in expanding our global markets. We support our consumers and projects with all our teams in GPDR. There is so much creativity out there. From strategy to Esports to Developer Support, we are aligned around content and engagement. We recently started the Middle East North Africa Hero Project. This compliments what we have started with our China Hero and India Hero projects. Our thinking is that we can excite a community about PlayStation if that community participates in the building of it, mostly through helping creators bring their games to market. 

I will tell you this though. I didn’t appreciate the value of the IP when I first started. For me, my job was more of a “lets-make-a-deal” and “the art or science of a transactional relationship” approach. I really didn’t understand the value of a strategic partnership around key IP and the health of our platform.  

When we started working on PlayStation 4, that’s when it all kind of clicked.  

Learning how to manage a portfolio and create room for multiple IPs which will reach multiple different types of gamers is really important. I think the big lesson for me is this: our business role in GPDR is all about the IP and doing whatever we can to help remove friction for creators to bring their creations to consumers. Hopefully Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation can help facilitate that. 

SIE.blog: Given the insight into the company that you’ve had, what do you expect from the future of PlayStation 

I am extremely optimistic for PlayStation’s future. I think we have the smartest, brightest and most passionate people in the world working at SIE. They are specialists in areas that need specific expertise. I think that as technology continues to evolve, it becomes more stable, will run faster and that gaming will be an even bigger part of our entertainment world. 

What we have built is really like a ballet. It’s choreographed. It looks like it’s kind of effortless, but it’s a lot of work. It’s heavy lifting and we’re really good at it.  

I’m very hopeful and very encouraged by the wind we have in our sails right now. We’ll end this year on a great note and next year all indicators are we’re going to have another fabulous year. 

While there’s always room to improve processes, Sony Interactive Entertainment really has a bright, bright future. This is not a “30 years and out” story. This is a “60 years and who the heck knows from there” story. 

SIE.blog: Thanks for your time, Phil! We wish you all the best and many thanks for helping make the PlayStation brand what it is today. Cheers!