Lewis “Kelly” Flock: former president of Sony Online Entertainment is dead

According to what has emerged in the last few hours Lewis "Kelly" Flock, former division president Online entertainment di Sony, is dead. According to information from a recent Venture Beat report, Flock was seriously ill. While his name may not be very familiar to gamers, it has been an important part not only in the development of beloved franchises of the Japanese giant, like God of War e Twisted Metal, but of the entire gaming industry. Precisely for this reason, in the past few hours, several prominent exponents of the sector have decided to share their condolences on their respective social media, including David Jaffe e Shawn Layden. According to the father of the famous PlayStation videogame series, which stars the ghost of Sparta, Kratos, Lewis “Kelly” Flock played a decisive role in giving life to those franchises. Here is his message of condolence:

I just learned that Playstation legend Kelly Flock is dead. He was the executive who fought hard to create the Sony Santa Monica team; is the guy who gave the green light to Twisted Metal 2-Black (along with Jet Moto). It has given MANY of us the opportunity to make projects well done and to learn.

He was sarcastic, funny as hell, brilliant in business and a great leader. He started in the EA warehouse, then worked at Lucasarts, Sony, Sony Online, and more. And it gave me chances after I failed. There is no TM: BLACK or GOD OF WAR without Kelly Flock.

Prior to his retirement, Flock was a member of the board of directors of the Aristocrat gambling company. However, people know him for his work with publishers and software houses, since his involvement dates back to the dawn of the videogame sector, having worked for EA in the mid-80s. In addition to Electronic Arts, Kelly has also worked for LucasArts, TriMark Interactive, only to join the Sony family in 1995, which at the time was known as Sony Imagesoft. During his tenure at the Japanese behemoth, Flock has earned a reputation for being a funny executive, accessible and a lover of risks, especially when it came to believing in ambitious projects, like Santa Monica Studio or the franchises themselves God of War e Twisted Metal.

He was sarcastic, funny as fuck, brilliant about the biz, and a great leader. He started in the warehouse at EA, went to Lucasarts, Sony, Sony Online + more.

And he gave me chances after I failed.There's no TM: BLACK or GOD OF WAR w / out Kelly Flock.

RIP ya glorious smart-ass! ❤️

- David Jaffe (@davidscottjaffe) January 5, 2021