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Ken Kutaragi, the former head of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and the man widely recognized as the “father” of all three PlayStation game consoles has retired from all executive positions at the company following major problems that the latest PlayStation 3 has faced in the past quarters.

As announced, on June, 19, the former chief of Sony’s game unit retired from his executive managements positions of chairman and group chief executive. Mr. Kutaragi will serve SCEI as honorary chairman of the group and will also continue to support Howard Stringer, chairman and chief executive of, Sony Corp., as a senior technology advisor. However, without the power of an executive, the “father of PlayStation” will hardly be able to seriously influence further development of the console.

Analyst and observers believe that along with departure of the creator of the original PlayStation, a whole era ends for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Mr. Kutaragi has engineering background and was concentrated on creating ultimate hardware for the PlayStation. By contrast, Kaz Hirai, who has become the chief of SCEI, came to the game unit from Sony’s music entertainment division, has marketing background and is believed to have better working relationships with game developers that Mr. Kutaragi.

Ken Kutaragi came under fire when it turned out that the latest PlayStation 3 game console is expensive to manufacture and because of Blu-ray laser production problems the launch of the console in Europe had to be postponed.

Due to exceptional price of the PlayStation 3, which, perhaps, has no technical advantages over Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and is more than two times more expensive than Nintendo’s Wii, shipments of the gaming machine even to stores were below expectations of Sony. The company shipped 5.5 million PlayStation 3 gaming machines in the fiscal year through March 31, fewer than the 6 million the company had targeted. Meanwhile, Nintendo shipped 5.84 million Wii game consoles worldwide throughout the same period.

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Comments currently: 1
Discussion started: 06/20/07 07:43:28 AM
Latest comment: 06/20/07 07:43:29 AM

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This is an indication that the situation inside Sony is worse then it looks from the outside.
This article is somehow remiscent to an earlier account of another Game System father.
Gumpei Yokoi. You may know him as the father of Game and Watch, Gameboy, Metroid and the ill fated Virtual Boy.

Eventhough he was key in the many successes Nintendo achieved in Electronic Gaming ( He was the one that spearheaded Nintendo from a Play Card making Company to the Electronic Gaming Giant it is Today ).

In the same way Mr. Kutaragi turned Sony from a Media Company to a Media / Toy Company and made profits too. Sony Playstation accounted for up to 40% of the Company's income at the hight of it's Popularity.

Gumpei Yokoi was also "Sidelined" just like Kutaragi when they created something that brought their Company in the Red.
Gumpei Contribution was Virtual Boy. Just like Sony PS3 an Over Ambitious Project. And not suprisingly it Bombed in the market.

The PS3 is not a Total failure ( Marketwise ) but it Threathens to do Permanent damage to Sony financial status. Even if they outproduce Wii. The PS3 Problem is that the more you produce to more your Losses stack up since Production is Higher then selling price. The way I see it is that Mr. Kutaragi dragged Sony into a spot where it is an almost no win situation.
( This is Serious. The Playstation 3 brought Sony in a Very Dangerous Financial Position The only things the The Sony bosses can do is Pray that not another of their gadget fails which results in another massive recall like that of the faulty ion battery recall not long ago. They can't buffer the losses. )

And that is why he like Gumpei got Formally released from their Position. but Informally FIRED. The same here with the Father of Playstation.

Japanese know no Pardon with failure even if your success accounted 100fold beforehand.

And another thing. The age of the Eyecandy of Sony Playstation system is over.
The Playstation 4 is already focussing on Network as main objective. Sony doesn't have the fanacial backing anymore the develop a second to none Graphic oriented Multimedia System. PS3 was developed with the Funds Generated with the succes of PS2 and PS2 with the success of PSone
My prediction is that PS4 might work with PS3 Hardware to save development costs.

C'mon common sense. If you were a Businessman would you do the same gamble twice if it turned out bad the first time?

This is Badnews for the Graphic Whoring Playstation Fanbois.
( Note that I'm not Implying that ALL Playstation Fanboys are Graphic Whores ).
[Posted by: bla | Date: 06/20/07 07:43:29 AM]

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