Sony Interactive Entertainment president Andrew House has stepped down from his current role and will be replaced by deputy president John Kodera. Effective immediately, Kodera will function as the president and chief executive officer of the company. House will still remain at SIE till the end of the year but will eventually transition into a director/chairman role.

Andrew House issued a statement on his departure from the role of president, stating that, “I’m tremendously proud of what we’ve built with PlayStation and Sony Interactive Entertainment: entertaining millions globally with the best in games and creating a fully fledged digital entertainment company.

“PlayStation has been a huge part of my life for more than 20 years but with the business having achieved record-breaking success, now seemed to be the right time for me to pursue new challenges. I shall always treasure the friendships and people that have made SIE such a wonderful place to work. I’m also grateful to PlayStation fans and gamers around the world for their loyalty and support. John and the team at SIE are world-class and I know the future of PlayStation is very bright.”

House has been working with Sony for quite a long time, first joining the company in the corporate communications department in 1990 before moving to the marketing and communications team for SCE in 1995. He would become president in 2011 and essentially oversaw the launch of the PlayStation 4 and other devices since then including PlayStation VR and the PS4 Pro.

Former president Kaz Hirai, who still works as Sony global CEO, also issued a statement on House stepping down from his current role. He said that he was “extremely grateful to Andy for the great contribution he has made to evolving the PlayStation business, and firmly positioning it as one of the drivers of our future growth.”

It’s really no surprise that the PlayStation 4 has proved to be as successful as many of us predicted it would be. It’s a powerful beast of a home console that comes close to matching the capabilties of a gaming PC which, for a console, is a very impressive feat indeed. Not only that, but it’s supported by a vast library of games and add on apps. But what does Andrew House, president and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, have to say about the PlayStation 4?

Well, House views the PlayStation side of Sony as “sitting in between” both the electronics and entertainment demographics that Sony caters to. Which makes sense, the console does mix the best of both worlds and does so in a way that makes it affordable.

Like many developers, publishers and creative minds, House admits that there has been a rise in the price of development for what he calls “really cutting edge” PS4 games. But with the architecture that’s being used in the PS4, they are able to get sort out their Research and Development costs, keeping things profitable for the most part despite going through ups and downs. He called this, rather humorously, the “Rollercoaster”.

But what do you objectively think of the PlayStation 4?

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The PlayStation 4 has been seeing stellar sales since its launch with more than 7 million consoles sold worldwide and PlayStation boss Andrew House believes it has presented a great opportunity for bringing in those consumers who bought a Wii but never explored beyond that (say, an Xbox 360 or PS3).

Speaking to Eurogamer, House said, “Our big opportunity is to welcome back an audience much earlier in the lifecycle that possibly bought into the Wii previously.

“Whether it’s based on this is a really good all-round entertainment device for a family in addition to having great games, our consumer data suggests some of those people are already coming in now and that’s what’s contributing to the really great sales we’ve had.”

If you’re not very high on all the PS4 remasters coming out, then it’s because Sony wants to cater to that 50 percent of users that never picked up the console. And there may very well be more on the way.

“I hesitate to say this because I know committed gamers may roll their eyes about it, but there’s an opportunity with some of the remastering or re-imagining from PS3 franchises that will potentially find an audience that hasn’t played them in the previous generation because they skipped that generation.

“We’re starting to see signs of that. That bodes well for us as a platform, but it bodes well for developers and publishers as well.”

Thoughts on all this? Let us know in the comments.

Andrew House and Mark Cerny will both appear in conversation in a keynote for Develop 2014 at Brighton, where they will discuss 20 years of PlayStation, and 40 years of console gaming. Their keynote will look at the history of video games as it is so far, while also simultaneously looking ahead at the future.

“It is hard to believe it has been 20 years since the arrival of the first PlayStation,” commented President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Andrew House. “Mark Cerny and I will look back over this fantastic period in which console gaming became mainstream, how our experiences shaped PlayStation 4 and where the industry will go from here.”

“We learnt a lot of lessons over the past 20 years which shaped the decisions taken in designing PlayStation 4,” said Mark Cerny, Lead System Architect on PlayStation 4 and President of Cerny Games. “The Develop in Brighton conference is a wonderful opportunity for us to share some of these experiences with the industry and discuss what the future might hold.”

“Following the rave reviews and accolades PlayStation 4 has received we are honoured to have Andrew House and Mark Cerny deliver the Develop in Brighton this July,” said Andy Lane, managing director of Tandem Events, who are organizing Develop 2014.

Mark Cerny is also being honored with a prestigious award at Develop, so it’s basically a Cerny fest this year, for anyone who loves the man and his works.

The PlayStation has sold 7 million units worldwide as of April 6th according to Sony Computer Entertainment, and software sales have passed 20.5 million units in both retail and digital.

SCE president and group CEO Andrew House stated that, “The response from the global gaming community for PS4 has been overwhelming and we are truly humbled that gamers are selecting PS4 as their next generation console of choice.

“The PS4 journey has just begun, and although we are still facing difficulties keeping up with the strong demand worldwide, we remain steadfast in our commitment to meet the needs of our customers, and surpassing the wildest expectations of gamers by delivering new user experiences that inspire and engage. We look forward to unveiling many of these experiences to our fans in the coming months.”

The PS4 has been rolling strongly since releasing in November 2013. In comparison, the Xbox One has sold 3.9 million units worldwide as of January 2014.

The PlayStation 4 has seen a phenomenal amount of success since releasing on November 15th in North America, eventually releasing on November 29th in Europe and becoming the fastest selling console in UK history. It also managed to sell more than 2.1 million units since launch, which is not bad at all.

Sony UK’s Andrew House in fact believes that the console will sell more than the PS3 in its life span. “It has an opportunity to significantly exceed what we’ve been able to achieve with PS3 and there’s a couple of reasons for that,” he stated to MCV.

“We start off with a price point that is much more consumer friendly than was there for the PS3. Also, one of the success stories for the business as a whole has been our ability to open up new geographies for video games over the last five years. You are seeing opportunities for new markets that we haven’t tapped into.

“The other point is that we took several years to take PS3 from being a dual function device to a multi-functional entertainment device. PS4 arrives with a full suite of those non-game entertainment services right from day one.

“And that’s important because there will be someone who wants this as a games device, but the fact it is a great place to view BBC iPlayer, for example, gives other family members reason to use it. That is crucial in broadening what the console’s reach could be.”

Will it reach the heights attained by the PS3, which has sold 80 million consoles till date and is still very much active? We’ll find out over the next few years.

Gfk Chart-Track already revealed that the PlayStation 4 has become the fastest selling console in the UK, beating the PSP’s record, and now Sony’s Andrew House has posted on the PS Blog EU that the next-gen console has crossed 2.1 million units sold worldwide.

“Now, with PS4′s global launch expanding to a total of 32 countries worldwide, including Europe and Latin America, I’m proud to announce that more than 2.1 million PS4s have been sold.

“It’s an impressive and record-setting accomplishment for our company and for our industry, and we couldn’t have done it without you. I want to personally thank PlayStation fans, both old and new, for your vote of confidence. The best part: the PS4 journey has just begun. In addition to an incredible line-up of PS4 games from the best developers in the world, we will continue to introduce valuable new features and services to PS4 in the months and years ahead.”

The PlayStation 4 launched in North America on November 15th and recently released in Europe on November 29th. It has averaged more than 1 million sales in the former within the first 24 hours.

House also stated that game consoles were seen as “just toys” but now, Sony is looking to create a “mainstream” with more connectivity and a “consumer-focused” environment. House also wanted developers worldwide to create social and connected experiences with a combination of both hardcore experiences and mainstream party and karaoke titles.

Reflecting how games have become more expensive, House said that Sony would be committed to creating a development environment for simplifying the creation of games.

Thankfully, the Cloud service seems to be on track for North America, and House revealed that it would support PlayStation Vita as well. The PlayStation 4 will be releasing in North America on November 15 and in Europe on November 29th, with a December release in Asia and a February 2014 release for Japan. Do you think Sony will sell 5 million units of the PS4? Let us know below.

“I see our approach on PS4 as really taking Sony Computer Entertainment back to our original roots. When we first launched with the PS1 and certainly the PS2, the goal was to give the consumer more choice, and lots of flexibility at a time when the delivery mechanism of games, on cartridges, placed a lot of restrictions on the industry. And also, by shifting to disks, to give developers – and particularly smaller ones – the chance to take risks and build a business. I think you’re seeing exactly those kinds of principles applied to PS4.”

He also revealed that the PS Eye was originally to be bundled with the PS4, but the idea was dropped to keep the price down at $399. While it provides “great consumer experiences” according to House, Sony isn’t “forcing that purchase on the consumer.”

Speaking more about the developer-friendly approach Sony has adopted, House stated that, “We have a new development environment, that developers are telling us is significantly easier to make great games for, and we’ve undertaken a significant amount of outreach to smaller developers. And the net result is that we’re seeing a lot of developers coming out of the mobile space, and I think that’s a tremendously positive trend for console gaming. Essentially, we have access to a whole new set of talent in gaming that we didn’t have before.”

The PlayStation 4 is set to release this Holiday season.

“You could argue that it’s a storm in a teacup – a very vocal minority of passionate gamers. This huge outpouring of feeling around the concept of ownership of content. But I have to say I don’t see it that way.

“I think we saw a lightning rod for feeling that has been bubbling up – that doesn’t just apply to games, but to entertainment overall. I think there’s an increasing nervousness about what ownership of content means. In the absence of physical goods. When that nervousness was starting to migrate into control over physical goods that consumers have purchased, that was a bridge too far.

“I want to be very clear about where we have been on this issue: I think there’s a danger we could be seen to have reacted and capitalized on a situation. When we first announced PS4 in February, people were saying, ‘Oh, Sony’s being coy’ – almost with some implicit suspicion.”

In the end, House states that Sony’s overall position is the same as it’s always been. “It struck us as very odd. We had no intention of changing our position – it hasn’t changed from what it’s been for the last fifteen years. We believe that if you buy it, you own it, you’re able to do with it what you want.”