Is Ken finished at Sony?

[nAo]

woops

 

[overclocked]

Well its rather old but i think this actually could and is the best thing for Sony. Ken could probably do more work and drive the PSx brandes and tech even further with his visions in a more focused way.

 

[Lazy8s]

Megadrive1988:

Ken to join SEGA to help Sega rejuvionate videogame hardware buisness!

SEGA's always been the most technologically ambitious hardware maker with their own staff. They even messed up the elegance of their console design in the 32-bit era in order to not be outdone in potential hardware capability.

 

[Megadrive1988]

Megadrive1988:

Ken to join SEGA to help Sega rejuvionate videogame hardware buisness!

SEGA's always been the most technologically ambitious hardware maker with their own staff. They even messed up the elegance of their console design in the 32-bit era in order to not be outdone in potential hardware capability.

I know Lazy8s - hehe, it was a joke

 

[darkblu]

SEGA's always been the most technologically ambitious hardware maker with their own staff. They even messed up the elegance of their console design in the 32-bit era in order to not be outdone in potential hardware capability.

could you elaborate?

 

[Lazy8s]

I was referring to the whole second SH-2 redesign of the Saturn.

 

[Qroach]

So what is happening here? Is ken still in charge of the game unit or not?

 

[Iron Tiger]

So what is happening here? Is ken still in charge of the game unit or not?

He's still gonna be making Playstations, in one role or another.

Stringer: Solder faster! YAH! *cracks whip*
Kutaragi: *crying over PCBs*

 

[Lazy8s]

Yeah, nothing's changed. This was just to formally announce the chain of representation for SCE with the corporate head. Ken Kutaragi still runs the division, and Stringer represents that operation at the board level.

 

[GwymWeepa]

I bet the top brass executives were miffed that they could have made a cheaper, slightly less powerful design that could be more quickly manufactured to face MS if Sony felt it needed to do so. Instead they are going to pay a pretty penny for a monstrous machine that cannot launch along with MS. Sony doesn't need the horsepower to succeed, they've proven that two generations in a row. But nowt hey face a potential situation where they can lose a lot of marketshare if MS plays their cards right.

 

[Acert93]

I bet the top brass executives were miffed that they could have made a cheaper, slightly less powerful design that could be more quickly manufactured to face MS if Sony felt it needed to do so. Instead they are going to pay a pretty penny for a monstrous machine that cannot launch along with MS. Sony doesn't need the horsepower to succeed, they've proven that two generations in a row. But nowt hey face a potential situation where they can lose a lot of marketshare if MS plays their cards right.

I think this has been Sony's plan for as long time. They are hitting their own landmarks.

Sony has 80M PS2s sold worldwide. An extra year of selling games to that huge install base = a lot of money. It is the games, not the consoles, they make money on. And if memory serves right, the PS2 launch was very expensive for Sony. Maximizing profits is important. They are the leader, they dictate when things move to an extent.

As with the next gen, I think Sony has calculated that most developers wont be moving to the next gen until 2006. At least that is the feeling I get. From the few EA clips I have heard more about "Next gen Madden in 2006" and not in 2005. Nothing is certain, but look at the PC market: No SM 3.0 games. The PC often pushed the console tech, but at this point no developers have a real handle on SM 3.0.

MS will have some great looking titles, but Sony basically has put Dev Kits into developers hands 18mo before launch, and who knows how much longer they have been working on stuff. I expect the PS3 launch to be huge because the PS2 will have exhausted itself and people will be excited about BR and the "new" PS3. Not to mention Sony has a chance to stomp on MS thunder in May's E3.

Overall I think Sony's plan so far has been great. They could lose marketshare, but if they do it will be more because of the MS games and less to do with the launch.

 

[Spidermate]

I think the media blows the news up bigger than it actually is. :?

Earlier this month, news out of Sony HQ in Japan saw Sony Computer Entertainment head Ken Kutaragi demoted from his position as executive deputy president. He was also discharged from his position as head of Sony's home electronics and semiconductor divisions.

For the first time since his demotion, the force behind Sony's gaming division spoke out about the changes at Sony. In an interview with the magazine Nikkei Business, Kutaragi revealed that the decisions surrounding his demotions were made without his knowledge--he said he was informed only the day before the public announcement.

Despite the downgrade, he sees the changes as being for the good of Sony.

"It's a major reshuffle, with seven out of eight executives resigning [from Sony's board], including myself. It's an intense and drastic change. But it feels good to have a whole group of executives resigning. Other companies can't do anything like this," Kutaragi said.

Commenting on Sony's new CEO, Howard Stringer (who replaces the outgoing Nobuyuki Idei), Kutaragi said, "I've known Howard since the launch of Sony Computer Entertainment; we eat together during our breaks whenever we meet. I was wondering who was going to become the next CEO, but I'm really glad that it's him. He works very hard. This will allow employees to focus on their jobs [without any worries]."

Industry watchers were stunned by Kutaragi's demotion, since he had long been considered a likely candidate to be Sony's next president. That role, however, was taken by Sony executive deputy president Ryoji Chubachi, who also took over Kutaragi's position as head of the semiconductor division.

Current CEO Nobuyuki Idei commented to the press during the announcements that Chubachi was chosen as the next president because "he is a good listener, and he can make appropriate decisions at appropriate times...and he's good at motivating young workers."

Commenting on Idei's statement, Kutaragi said, "One employee who overheard Idei-san at the press conference came to me saying that [Idei's comments] imply I'm a 'bad listener.' But I was able to laugh that off. It seems that people within SCE were worrying that I would leave [Sony and SCE]. When it was decided that I would stay, people said they were glad. And I'm honestly thankful about that."

Kutaragi went on to confirm that he has no current plans to leave Sony, especially since he wants to continue working on the Cell chip project, which is close to completion.

"We're finally going to launch it, after more than four years of major development. I have the responsibility [of following up on the Cell launch], and I also have dreams. First, it will be placed in game consoles. Then, in the near future, I want to use it in TVs and home servers. There's much I want to do. I have been leading SCE [up until now], and I will continue to be its leader," said Kutaragi. "I will remain at Sony. I'm still young. It's my goal to keep moving forward."

 

[blakjedi]

Is stringer the head of Sony the worldwide corporation? Or just the head of SOny of America?

Is Sony Computer Entertainment under Sony Japan or Sony America?

 

[Spidermate]

Is stringer the head of Sony the worldwide corporation? Or just the head of SOny of America?

Is Sony Computer Entertainment under Sony Japan or Sony America?

Here's the report:

Stringer, the former head of Sony Corporation America, is the first foreign-born chief executive of the Japanese company. Born in Cardiff, Wales, the 63-year-old worked his way up through the ranks at CBS, and was the force behind pulling David Letterman and his nighttime talk show to the television station. After a two-year stint as CEO of Tele-TV, Stringer took the reigns of Sony's US operations in 1998.

Stringer replaced former CEO Nobuyuki Idei on March 7.

According to Bloomberg Japan, Ken Kutaragi, father of the PlayStation and former head of the gaming division, will keep his position as president of Sony Computer Entertainment. However, he will report directly to Stringer from now on.

I think that's as simple as it can get.

 

[blakjedi]

I was referring to the whole second SH-2 redesign of the Saturn.

was the single SH2 that much weaker than the Mips3000?

 

[phat]

Megadrive1988:

Ken to join SEGA to help Sega rejuvionate videogame hardware buisness!

SEGA's always been the most technologically ambitious hardware maker with their own staff. They even messed up the elegance of their console design in the 32-bit era in order to not be outdone in potential hardware capability.

Um... yeah. Funny how you spin that. Last minute bolting on of another CPU to the Saturn design in order to compete with the 3D capabilities of a newbie Sony PlayStation was an act of desperation resulting from a *lack* of foresight and ambition.

 

[Lazy8s]

No, but they had to measure up to a system strengthened also by the GTE and advantages in hardwired graphics acceleration.

 

[Lazy8s]

phat:

Last minute bolting on of another CPU to the Saturn design in order to compete with the 3D capabilities of a newbie Sony PlayStation was an act of desperation resulting from a *lack* of foresight and ambition.

That misses the point that they eventually did go back and change it at a huge cost to themselves after getting outplanned by Sony when the priority of most companies would've been to try to win primarily on increased marketing.

 

[one]

Well, basically put, the deal is, since there was no Sony Group board member who oversees the game business, Stringer created the new post in the board and appointed himself there, so it's all completed in Sony Group and doesn't affect SCEI.

And it leads to a new prospect for SCEI. Kutaragi lost his post as head of the semiconductor division to the new president, Chubachi. But under the new management, when Kutaragi wants to request something about the semiconductor business and other electronics needs, he can ask Stringer, who is also the chairman, to order his Sony Group subordinates to do it for SCEI. In this way, Kutaragi can rely on Stringer as an effective proxy or an intermediary even though Kutaragi himself has very few allies in Sony Group.

 

[one]

It looks Chubachi was not appointed as head of SSNC, after all.

In the English PR Chubachi is only appointed as Electronics CEO. In the Japanese PR it's written that Kenshi Manabe is appointed as SSNC president instead of Chubachi. Manabe is also Semiconductor CTO of SCEI, so apparently the focus on CELL and the PS3 is ongoing in Sony.