"Father of the PlayStation" Ken Kutaragi Retires

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PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi (right) will retire from his position as Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) representative director, chairman and group CEO as of June 19, 2007, the day of SCEI's annual shareholders meeting. Following that date, Kutaragi will assume the position of SCEI honorary chairman and also act as a senior technology adviser to Sony Corporation chairman and CEO Howard Stringer. Current SCEI president and group COO Kaz Hirai (left), who was just appointed to his position last November, will then replace Kutaragi as SCEI's new group CEO while continuing to serve as president.

As the man who persuaded a reluctant Sony to enter the console market following his work on the SNES sound chip, Kutaragi played a pivotal role in the creation of Sony's PlayStation brand, aiding in the design and launch of the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PSP, and PlayStation 3. His strong willed personality and sometimes controversial opinions were also known to go against the wishes of others in the company, causing him to gain an internal reputation as a maverick.

Despite his undeniable influence on the game industry, many began to question Kutaragi after several odd public statements, such as when he claimed the PSP was the "the most beautiful thing in the world" or another instance in which he insisted the then-unreleased PlayStation 3 was not a game machine.

News of Kutaragi's retirement comes soon after Sony Computer Entertainment's recent consideration of worldwide job cuts and restructuring, though the events are almost certainly unrelated. However, this news is almost certain to thrill Microsoft's J Allard, who while serving as Xbox vice president and chief XNA architect back in 2005, stated his driving motivation in the games industry was the thought of Kutaragi's resignation letter framed on his wall.

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 26, 2007 10:13 AM

    "However, this news is almost certain to thrill Microsoft's J Allard, who while serving as the Xbox vice president and chief XNA architect back in 2005, stated his driving motivation in the games industry was the thought of Kutaragi's resignation letter framed on his wall."

    Resignation is not equal to Retirement.

    • reply
      April 26, 2007 10:16 AM

      kind of a interesting time to retire though.

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      April 26, 2007 10:16 AM

      It's word play though. If I retire, I'm resigning my position.

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        April 26, 2007 10:32 AM

        Good point, but we have no idea WHY he "retired". He's worked quite a few years, maybe he just wants to move on? This microsoft guy wanted him to leave in defeat. I sincerly doubt thats the reason.

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          April 26, 2007 10:40 AM

          Remo can answer that better. The PS3 isn't doing terribly, but it's also not flying off shelves either. Sony may not be happy with his leadership in the past few years and he was "retired". Or maybe he does want to do something else or just take it easy. No idea really. The internets are full of lies and rumors.

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      April 26, 2007 11:16 AM

      When you get to a certain level of success as an executive in a company, you only resign as part of a golden parachute (which is usually to take all of the blame of failure and mark a "new start" to investors) or if you want to work for another company. Ken has been responsible for too much of their success and Sony has made too much money for him to ever "resign".

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      April 26, 2007 1:10 PM

      Well, he retired when the Xbox360 is kicking the PS3's ass around like a redheaded stepchild. So I guess you can say that it's still sweet. :D

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