Playstation Father Steps Down From SCEI
- Scribbled on April 26th, 2007 by Devin Grimes
- Filed in Industry News, Press Release, Sony PSP, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3
Today, SCEI issued a press release stating that the current President and Group CEO and inventor behind both the original and second Playstation, Ken Kutaragi, will be stepping down from executive management at Sony.
Kutaragi has been an influential individual in the gaming community, and has broken many barriers with the original Playstation console. Whether or not this is due to the Playstation 3’s lack of success in the world market is unknown, with the press release only citing that he wanted to “pursue his dreams beyond Playstation.” Kutaragi’s closing words stated:
I am happy to graduate from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. after introducing four platforms to the Playstation family. It has been an exciting experience to change the world of computer entertainment by marrying cutting edge technologies with creative minds from all over the world. I’m looking forward to building on this vision in my next endeavors.
Filling Kutaragi’s shoes will be none other than Kazuo “Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer!” Hirai who will leave his current position as President and Group CEO of SCEI.
The press release in full can be found here.
(Thanks Kotaku)
April 26th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
This guy birthed the PlayStation and helped inspire the industry to great things, built a huge level of competition and raise the bar to awesome third party gaming support.
Regardless to the direction of the PS3, Kutaragi was “the man” in the gaming industry.
Gotta give him a big bow for his work, maybe he’ll go on to create something new and exciting to beat down the PS3, 360 and Wii.
Or he’ll find a nice beach and retire a well established gaming icon.