God of War Creator Calls for PlayStation Boss Hermen Hulst to Be Fired

David Jaffe says PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst is out of touch with the games market and should be replaced, pointing to Horizon multiplayer spin-off as a costly example.

David Jaffe has never been shy about sharing his opinions, and this time he's aiming straight at the top of PlayStation. The God of War creator is publicly calling for PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst to be fired, arguing that a string of bad calls has left Sony's first-party lineup in a rough spot it never should have reached this late in the console generation.

His go-to example? That Horizon multiplayer spin-off, Horizon Hunters Gathering. According to Jaffe, Guerrilla Games poured years of work and a ton of resources into the project before someone finally questioned which direction it was heading, sending it back for a full overhaul. For Jaffe, that's a failure that simply shouldn't happen at this scale.

"Why do you need that many people and that many resources to realize Hunters Gathering was a bad idea?" he asked. In his view, just dropping an early test build online would have saved a fortune. Give it a week, he said, and you'd know whether a game like that has any reason to exist.

Beyond any single project, Jaffe's real issue is that he doesn't think Hulst is plugged into the market. He said Hulst doesn't come across as someone who "lives and breathes games," and argued that genuinely understanding what players want should be a basic requirement for anyone in PlayStation leadership.

His verdict wasn't exactly gentle: "Hermen should be fired, and it will probably actually happen." That's about as blunt as it gets from a man who helped build one of PlayStation's biggest franchises.

So who does Jaffe want in the chair? Former Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida. He thinks PlayStation needs someone with both creative instincts and a real read on today's gaming landscape — and in his eyes, Yoshida fits that bill.

Whether Sony listens is another matter entirely, but Jaffe's comments add more fuel to an ongoing conversation about PlayStation's first-party strategy and how its biggest projects get greenlit. Do you agree with Jaffe, or is he being too harsh on Hulst? Sound off in the comments.