Kutaragi To Retire In June

Shakeups just seem to keep coming at Sony Computer Entertainment, as today it was announced that Ken Kutaragi, current Chairman will be retiring from his position effective June 19, 2007. Sony’s press release indicates that Kutaragi will become Honorary Chairman of SCEI, but it is hard to see this move as anything but related to the inability of the PlayStation 3 to live up to Sony’s expectations. Kutaragi, known generally as the father of the PlayStation, has left an indelible mark on the industry, allowing Sony to become a major force – while Sony’s been hit by a lot of bad press about the PlayStation 3, one can still admire the hardware powering the console. Kaz Hirai has been named as Kutaragi’s successor. Overall, this seems to be part of a larger reorganization at Sony, and time will tell if these moves help the company turn around sales of their new console.

Read More | Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.

Gallery: Kutaragi To Retire In June

Reactions To PS3 Announcement

Dean Takahashi at Mercury News has put together a preview of the story to be published about what the PS3 delay and hardware shortage may mean for Sony and the rest of the industry. The most significant impact seen, of course, will be in the European territory. Missing the holiday launch there means that Microsoft and Nintendo will have a great opportunity to grow marketshare over the next six months. Takahashi was also able to talk with Sony’s new director of communications, David Karraker, particularly about why Sony sat so long on the news. Karraker laid the blame on Kutaragi’s management style, saying that Kutaragi, “pushes his internal teams to hit the numbers. When it became clear we couldn’t hit the numbers, Ken revised it.” Karraker also reiterated that the shortage is solely tied to blue-diode lasers and not any other component, and stated that production of the console will start at the end of September.

Overall, this holiday is not going to be a rosy one for Sony. While every single console manufactured will definitely be sold, they can expect a huge consumer backlash because of availability issues in all three territories. The US Playstation 2 launch suffered huge shortages, and back then, Sony launched with roughly 500,000 units. Now, Sony is releasing even fewer into the US market, and it is unclear whether the company will really be able to sustain production levels if they can’t resolve their diode issues.

The other immediate impact would seem to be next week’s Tokyo Game Show. While Sony has been boasting about the number of playable titles at the show, game selection largely becomes meaningless if nobody can get a console to play on. What could have been Sony’s final public demonstration of the potential of the Playstation 3 before launch will now be tainted with Sony’s inability to provide hardware to the gaming public.

Read More | Mercury News

Gallery: Reactions To PS3 Announcement