Sony's Ken Kutaragi To Step Down

Joystiq reports that Chairman and group CEO for Sony Computer Entertainment Ken Kutaragi is retiring as of June 19th. The Sony reshuffling of executives late last year left Mr. Kutaragi out of the PS3 nitty-gritty, and one could imagine led to his decision to leave the organization. From SCEI's official statement: "[Mr. Kutaragi] stated that, in the six months since the appointment of Kazuo Hirai as President in December, the new generation of management, led by Mr. Hirai, has continued to develop. With the March introduction of PS3 in Europe completing the successful launch of PS3 worldwide, Mr. Kutaragi has identified SCE's Annual Shareholders' meeting in June as the ideal timing to pass on the torch to the new generation of management. Mr. Kutaragi will now apply his extensive technological knowledge and leadership skills to take on new challenges beyond the world of PlayStation."

"His decision to leave the organization?"

[Rimbo]

Oh, I don't think he decided anything. This is how executives get pushed out while allowing them to save face.

Anyway, thanks to Ken, for one of the most entertaining business dramas I've seen since 3dfx.

Re:"His decision to leave the organization?"

[darkrowan]

Business language translations:

Leaves to spend more time with family - Flat out quit, had to be begged to give some kind of notice
Leaves to take on new challenges - "There's the door, don't let it hit you on the ass."

Re:Meaning?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a bit of a coincidence for him to leave just after the PS3 is confirmed as a total failure (full international release and still way behind the competitors). Clearly shows that inside Sony they're well aware they have a serious problem, and the hilarious press releases about the PS3 are a miserable attempt at damage control, and not simply corporate arrogance.

Shareholders

[duerra]

Sounds to me he picked the shareholders meeting to announce his retirement so that the shareholders don't have to announce it for him.

Mod parent up

[bigred85]

Wow. Just wow. If only I had mod points.

If I did, however, you'd probably get "Insightful" rather than mere "Funny".

Re:GTA4

[drinkypoo]

Now - if - and we're talking a big if, IF the Sony PS3 version is appreciably better looking than the Xbox360 version - then I don't see why people wouldn't step up to the plate to get the most capable GTA platform available much in the same way gamers shop for PC's.

Because it won't change the gameplay? It won't look dramatically better, which is what it would really take.

There are few games that have the power to draw people to a console even when they are exclusives if that console doesn't have a life of its own. Nothing you say about the PS2 applies to the PS3 because the PS2 had a shitload of games and a shitload of exclusives.

Basically Sony's only hope now is Gran Turismo. And I frankly don't think that will bring people in. I paid $300 for a PS2/GT3 bundle and I felt that was a lot of money for one game. It was worth it because at the time, Gran Turismo had no credible competition. That is no longer true, so I maintain that the PS3 is basically over already.

The one thing I think that Sony could do to turn this thing around, besides come up with some killer exclusives (which is NOT going to happen unless they develop them as first party titles) would be to completely open the PS3. Give us full access to the graphics hardware in Linux. I still wouldn't buy one, but a lot of people who haven't decided to boycott Sony and even some that have would start buying them and stop badmouthing them so much, increasing the installed base and attracting developers.

But since it's not going to happen, it's quite irrelevant.

I don't take Sony's fears that letting other people develop full-featured games will destroy the licensed game market seriously, because the claim is that games cost a shitload to make on the PS3. On the other hand, it very well might destroy the simple game market (puzzle games and such) and I honestly don't think Sony can take that risk if only because they need to avoid further alienating game developers.

If Sony wants to stay in the gaming business, their next console is going to have to be a fuck of a lot easier to program.

Ken's a scapegoat

[BenJeremy]

Say what youy want about his gaffs with the PS3, but keep in mind that the primary factor that ruined the PS3 was the insistence that it include a Blu-Ray drive, most likely driven from the Media-oriented Mr. Stringer. Kutaragi was forced to support a product that was flawed because its development was driven (and delayed) by motivations that had nothing to do with gamers, and everything to do with promoting a new DRM scheme.

Remove the 6 month delay necessitated by adding the Blu-Ray drive, as well as the expense, and the obvious maneuver to push Blu-Ray into homes using fanboys and loyal customers, and it's an entirely different story... Sony still has a problem with the gaming experience, and the whole fiasco over feedback controllers, but those become minor issues. In making DRM so central to the PS3's strategy (or should I say, making the PS3 central to Sony's invasive DRM strategy) after Sony's horrible anti-consumer behavior primarily in its media divisions has made many of its loyal customers angry and resolute in not supporting the company. It's made them consciously avoid all things "Sony" - from CDs that may install rootkits that open security holes on your PCs, to movies that take extreme measures to eliminate fair use of customers to back up their own movies (while pirates release those same movies on the net days or even weeks before they are released for retail). Until Blu-Ray is added to the mix, one can simply argue that the PS3 is an island in the sea of things wrong with Sony as a corporate citizen; with Blu-Ray, however, the PS3 becomes yet another pawn - a cynical move in an agenda to control consumers' rights and increase control in media markets.

So, here we are, months after the PS3's dismal launch, and we all can agree, game quality issue aside, the PS3 would have sold much better without the Blu-Ray drive inflating the price. All of Ken's crazy words would have merely been a sidenote in a frenzied battle of consoles. It's launch would have occurred 6 months BEFORE the Wii, striking quicker and likely deeper into the market that the Wii got exposure to on equal terms with last holiday season. Can you blame Kutaragi for it all? Would he have agreed to include the Blu-Ray drive if he had not gotten incredible pressure from higher up?

It's no coincidence that Sony's leaders are media people - their media division makes money by the tankerful. What nobody seems to grasp is that those profits are not thanks to those same executives that wield so much political power within Sony's corporate arena.... media sells these days, even crap media. The world is hungry for movies and music - I suppose you could say they at least didn't make so many boneheaded moves that they dragged the company down, but even that's not entirely true - yet they hold the power, and likely forced Blu-Ray upon the PS3.

Ah well... they sweep Ken out the door and play it up as a "shake up" between the lines, it looks like SCE is making moves to improve the PS3 situation, but in reality, it does nothing to solve the underlying problem of a system tied down with a 50-ton boat anchor. It will satisfy the stockholders, many of whome have no idea when it comes to gaming consoles, only that that division has lost money for the last 5 years and is losing money at a rapid pace (even though others might realize it's a strategy to lose money on every PS3 sold).