Analyst: PS3 father axed over "not enough delivery"
By John Pospisil
With the recent announcement that the father of the PS3, Ken Kutaragi, is set to leave Sony, analysts are speculating that Kutaragi was pushed because the launch of the PS3 didn’t live up to the hype.
Officially, Kutaragi is retiring and will leave his post as Sony Computer Entertainment’s chairman and chief executive in June. He will be replaced by, Kazuo Hirai, who is currently the company’s president and chief operating officer
Kutaragi is credited for the success of the PS1 and PS2, but analysts and commentators speculate that the perceived failure of the PS3 may be real reason for his departure from Sony, and that his “retirement” may actually be a face saving exercise on behalf of Sony. It seems that his previous success was not enough to save him from becoming a scapegoat.
Hard-hitting analyst at IDC, Billy Pidgeon, made it clear why he thought Kutaragi was leaving.
“Sony had too much hype and not enough delivery,” Pidgeon told AP.
“Sony didn’t notice that their audience was dwindling and didn’t increase the base by playing to a wider demographic, and instead it played the old-school game of playing to the 18- to 32-year-old male early adopter.”
The PS3 has been criticized for being too expensive and over engineered. Production shortages haven’t helped.
Kutaragi’s “retirement” indicates that all is not well at Sony’s head office. At only 56, it’s very unlikely that he would retire after the recent launch of his latest console, especially when he’s had such outstanding success with the PS1 and PS2.
If Kutaragi’s “retirement” is actually a face-saving exercise on behalf of Sony, it may well backfire. It indicates that Sony is very unhappy with the launch of the PS3, and that it’s simply running out of ideas. Not a good sign at all…
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April 30th, 2007
Oh, this makes sense since there was already talks AND confirmation of his leaving his position BEFORE the PS3 was launched… good job on the research.
April 30th, 2007
Oh, by the way, he’s not “retiring” at all, but moving to a different position as head of “network development.”
April 30th, 2007
This article is total crap, as Jeremiah says, Kutaragi was confirmed to be leaving his position BEFORE the PS3 was launched, it was in the pipe line for a long time. Also this is not a “worrying sign” about the “Failing PS3″, it is actually a good move by Sony, Kaz Hirai is an excellent person at getting 3rd party exlcuives and developers for the PS3, which is exactly what it needs to suceed. Seems you really cant write Analyst without writing “Anal”. Most of these so called analysts predict the most pathetic things, remember, they predicted the PS2 to cost $700, they predicted “no PS4″ because of Kaz Kirai been in power, which has been confirmed as bunk, and they predicted at one time that the Wii would have graphics the same as Xbox 360. NEVER listen to such people!
May 1st, 2007
With people like Tez supporting it.. the PS3 will never outsell other consoles.
May 1st, 2007
Tez: At composite, Xbox 360 and Wii have the same graphics capabilities, just haven’t seen really good use of it yet. Also, as I have stated, not everyone has or can afford a good high-definition television yet, big investment, especially looking at noise reduction equipment, cables and other high definition equipment when looking at tuners and PVRs. Also, who needs an HDTV yet if most channels aren’t high definition yet?
-Will
May 1st, 2007
[...] Officially, Kutaragi is retiring and will leave his post as Sony Computer Entertainment’s chairman and chief executive in June (though analysts speculate that he was pushed by Sony bosses as a face-saving measure over the botched launch of the PS3). [...]
May 3rd, 2007
Will, you are correct in stating that there is not a huge market for high def TVs as of yet. This is reflected somewhat on the PS3 sales at this point. This was not the topic of disagreement, but how much BS is in this article. It frustrates me to no end when another news media or blog jumps on the Sony hate wagon for no other reason other than the fact that everyone’s doing it.
May 13th, 2007
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[...] Hirai, the current president of Sony Computer Entertainment, who replaced Ken Kutaragi, has strongly refuted claims that the Xbox 360 is as powerful as the PS3. Speaking in a recent [...]
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