North American PlayStation Network head says 'peace out' to Sony

![][1] Yup, and then she dropped the deuces as the elevator door closed. At least that's how _we imagine_ it happened. [VentureBeat reports][2] that [Sony][3]'s North American head of its [PlayStation Network][4] (PSN), Susan Panico, has left the company. For the past five years, Panico has served as senior director of the North American PSN, growing it beyond just games with numerous movies, TV shows and original content like The Tester.

As of late last year, the PSN has over 77 million registered users across the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles. However, it's tough to ignore the challenges that PSN faced under Panico, namely [the network's six-week outage][5] in spring 2011 as a result of several hacker attacks. Granted, Sony apologized profusely and compensated players for their time lost, but the damage had been done.

According to what VentureBeat has learned, Panico didn't provide much reason as for her departure from Sony, though the company has confirmed the move. "We can confirm Susan has left SCEA," Sony Computer Entertainment America spokesman Patrick Seybold told the website. "We thank her for her considerable contribution to our business and wish her every success in the future."

As of this writing, there's no word on who will replace Panico as senior director. The news comes just as Sony makes several, arguably [more social changes][6] to its network, such as a [massive update to its Home platform][7]. Whoever takes over Panico's position will more than likely be someone on board with all that's social.

[Via [IndustryGamers][8]]

[Image Credit: [Gamerant][9]]

**Are you a fan of the PSN in its current state? What do you hope a senior director would change about the platform, and what things do you hope remain? Sound off in the comments. [Add Comment.][10]**

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[1]: http://o.aolcdn.com/dims/GAME/5/168/168/100/http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.games.com/media/2012/01/third-sony-hack-psn-soe.jpg
[2]: http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/29/sonys-north-american-playstation-network-chief-departs-exclusive/
[3]: http://blog.games.com/tag/sony
[4]: http://blog.games.com/tag/psn
[5]: http://blog.games.com/2011/05/31/sony-restore-playstation-network-week/
[6]: http://blog.games.com/2012/01/23/ps3-psn-virtual-goods-sony/
[7]: http://blog.games.com/2011/11/02/playstation-home-social-game-platform/
[8]: http://www.industrygamers.com/news/playstation-network-chief-leaves-sony/
[9]: http://gamerant.com/third-sony-hack-psn-soe-robk-83074/
[10]: http://blog.games.com/2012/01/30/playstation-network-head-leaves-sony/#disqus_thread
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