Legendary PS3 creator leaves Sony
The engineer known as the “Father of the PlayStation” said Thursday that he would end his three-decade career at Sony Corp. in June in the wake of faltering sales of the latest version of what was once the world’s bestselling video game system. Sony said Ken Kutaragi was leaving voluntarily to make way for a new generation of management at the Tokyo-based consumer electronics giant. His departure comes at a time when the PlayStation 3, which Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer described as a cornerstone for the company’s growth, has been outflanked by rival game consoles by Nintendo Co. and Microsoft Corp. In December, Kutaragi was removed from day-to-day oversight of the game division, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., and took the role of chairman and chief executive. His protege, Kazuo Hirai, the former head of U.S. game operations, became president of the division. Hirai will be promoted to chief executive on June 19.
Kutaragi is one of the most revered figures in electronic entertainment. An engineer by training, Kutaragi is known to be passionate, almost childlike, in his enthusiasm. In the early 1990s, when game consoles were dismissed as toys and Nintendo dominated the market with a system that played such titles as “Super Mario World,” Kutaragi built a box that attracted an adult consumer. The risky gambit helped transform the toy business into a mass market that today brings in about $30 billion worldwide. The original PlayStation, introduced in December 1994, quickly surpassed Nintendo’s bestselling game console, selling 100 million worldwide. Sony cemented its dominance with the 2000 introduction of the PlayStation 2, which commanded a 70% market share, with global sales of 110 million boxes. Most recent sales figures show Microsoft’s rival Xbox 360, costing as much as $400, is consistently outselling PlayStation 3…
Comments(14)
He actually got sacked!
HURRY JUMP SHIP ! THIS BOAT IS SINKING !!!
that is what happens when you expect people to pay 600
Father of communism.. oops I mean ps3.
Long live the Xbox 360.
Ive said it in the past and I’ll ay it again..
Keep making those walkmans S0ny! Its what you do best.
He’s out, but he’s still an “advisor” to Sony when needed.
Don’t forget the Wii, that system is consistently outselling both of them. Even the PS2 is outselling the 360 and PS3…
I think the Wii’s sales will be unprecedented and are going to set records. But only if they deliver incredible software, which both Wii and PS3 seem to at this moment.
Yes it seems a bit of deserting the sinking ship. I think most of us could have seen this happening with the stupid price tag put on the PS3!
It could have once been looked at as a cheap way into Blue-Ray but it is an expensive games machine!
The PS3 is a good machine I played my brothers but at that price I wont be getting it until it’s at a more realistic price. I’ll stick to nicely priced 360 and get the very reasoanably priced HD-DVD drive soon.
**Dickens**
“PS2 outselling the 360 and PS3″????
Don’t you get a PS2 free with the Sunday papers??? lol. Or buy one get one free at the most…lol
in the words of the late and great reggie white. i bet he can turn a tv into a wrist watch
he was GREAT!
er… He is great
Microsoft will be our doom , world domination!! , heil Nintendo..
bye bye my ps father. we will miss you so much. So this would be the end of the PS series or what do you think???