According to VentureBeat, Susan Panico has left her role as Senior Director of PlayStation Network at Sony Computer Entertainment America. She has held that role for the past 5 years, overseeing the growth of the PlayStation Network which has now achieved 77 million members worldwide. The service has added many features in that time, including movies and TV shows and original content as well as games.
The PlayStation Network has seen its share of problems, too, notably the six-week outage resulting from a hacking attack last year. Sony had to give away free games and apologize profusely in order to rectify the public relations damage, but ultimately the network still saw membership gains in 2011.
Sony did confirm Panico's departure. Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold said, “We can confirm Susan has left SCEA. We thank her for her considerable contribution to our business and wish her every success in the future.”
At this time there is no word on Panico's future plans, or on a possible replacement.
