Adam Boyes, VP of third party relations & developer technology group at PlayStation, announced via Twitter that he’s departing from the company he’s been with for the past four+ years.

After an incredible journey here at PlayStation, I’ve made the very hard decision to return to the world of game development!

— Adam Boyes (@amboyes) July 8, 2016 

The past 4+ years have been an absolutely amazing experience! I’d like to start out by thanking the incredible PlayStation Nation fans!

— Adam Boyes (@amboyes) July 8, 2016 

The best news is that we have an incredible team here so the development & publishing community & gamers are in GREAT hands!

— Adam Boyes (@amboyes) July 8, 2016
 

While Boyes, a good guy all around (after all, he’s Canadian) will be missed, his departure is likely timely and in fact even makes sense. Let me explain.

Every time there is a departure at any given company, be it Apple, Google, or Sony, the first 24 hours unfold fairly predictably online with celebration and a cause for concern. After all, if things are going so well at PlayStation and Boyes has played a key role, if not important role in it all, why would he want to move on? Surely there is something more at hand. Is PlayStation in trouble?

Not really. In fact, it’s likely that because PlayStation is doing so well that Boyes is departing. After all, Boyes joined Sony as the company was preparing to transition from PS3 to PS4. Under his leadership, Boyes was able to made huge strides with the indie community and help streamline the process of getting titles onto PS4 and in turn, PlayStation Network. If you’ve seen the darth of indie games on PS Vita, PS4, PSN, and soon PS VR, it’s not by mistake. Boyes, who previously worked at Capcom, has been the key architect behind it all.

Now that Boyes has cleaned house so to speak and set up a robust internal structure that’s working, he ready for new challenges and what better time to leave than when everything is sailing so smoothly?  And no, Boyes isn’t jumping ship to Xbox or Nintendo. Instead, he’s

 going to make games again on the independent side 

which falls right inside his wheelhouse and chances are, we’ll see them first on PlayStation. My best wishes to Boyes who’s been a delight on stage and in person. What the gaming community needs is more people like him around.

Discuss:

Are you concerned about his departure or do you feel that it was timely?