Former PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai had a pretty simple way of dealing with Sony executives: ignore them and do what he thought was best for PlayStation. During his time leading Sony Computer Entertainment from 2007 to 2012, Hirai says he didn't always follow what Sony's headquarters wanted. "When Howard [Stringer] and the other executives told me this or that, I went my own way, saying, ‘What the headquarters says is irrelevant. We are PlayStation’" That generation also gave us games like Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet and Metal Gear Solid 4, which helped make the PS3's library stand out. Hirai also made a point of regularly visiting PlayStation teams around the world. He says he visited more than 20 countries and nearly 50 cities during his six years as president, returning to show employees that he genuinely cared about their work.