Mark Cerny, lead system architect, PlayStation 4 & 5.
About this episode
Mark Cerny is an American programmer, and game designer whose career has shaped not only how we play, but the systems we play on. A San Francisco native, he dropped out of UC Berkeley at 17 after receiving an invitation to join Atari. At 18 he designed the arcade hit Marble Madness.
He then moved to Japan to work with Sega, for whom he founded the Sega Technical Institute, developers of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Then played a key role in landmark titles such as Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, and Resistance. He’s perhaps best known, however, as the lead system architect of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, helping to define the technical and creative possibilities of an entire generation of video games.
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole
Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Get every episode summarized
Each time My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin
Mike Diver, journalist, author (Aliens: The Video Games)
My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin
Soren Johnson, game designer (Civ III, Civ IV, Spore, Old World)
My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin
Glen Henry, gamemaker, co-founder Jamaica Game Developer Society.
My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin
Amelia Tait, journalist, children's author.
My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin