Ken Kutaragi, the engineering genius behind the development of the original PlayStation, PS2, PSP and PS3 has announced that he is stepping down from all his duties at Sony. He indicated his decision to do so earlier in April of this year and has officially called it "quits."
Kutaragi was "promoted" from his position of president of Sony Entertainment last year and was made the group chairman.
But most saw this move as an attempt to remove Kutaragi away from the day-to-day responsibilities of running Sony Entertainment. Kaz Harai, then head of SCEA, stepped in to take the vacant position left by Kutaragi as head of Sony Entertainment headquarters in Japan.
Many see Kutaragi’s downfall as directly attributed to the failure of the PS3 to retain and gain market share in the next gen console wars.
Various blunders continually followed the PS3 during its development cycle, production phase and launch — PS3 programmers were complaining about the difficulty in coding the system software, lack of blue laser diodes held back production numbers, a lackluster and confusing ad campaign failed to connect with the consumer and the hefty price tag of a machine that drove hoards of consumers away into the waiting arms of Nintendo and Microsoft were all factors in the unfortunate mishandling of the PS3.
Kutaragi will hold an honorary positiion as a consultant for Sony.
[via AP]
