Sony Developer Relations Manager Jumps Ship

Posted Jul 24, 2006 at 12:41PM by QJ Staff Listed in: News, Off Topic Tags: Mark DeLoura, Molly Smith, North America, SCEA, Sony, Ubisoft
Ó


Mark DeLouraYou know, we as a neutral news source aren't supposed to be participating in the current Sony hate wave, but even for the biggest fanboys, there's no denying that the company has been struggling since the announcement of the Playstation 3. Manufacturing issues, high-level employees leaving, questionable marketing strategies...sadly, it looks like the trend is continuing.

SCEA's long-standing manager of Developer Relations Mark DeLoura has quit his position and will soon be heading to Ubisoft North America's office as a technical director. At his new job, he is responsible for the quality of third-party games published by Ubisoft and the coordination with game developers wanting to work with the company.

DeLoura is the second important employee to leave Sony after Senior Director Of Communications and Brand Development Molly Smith resigned from the company in June. DeLoura, a well-known face in the industry and author of several books on Game Development, had been with Sony since 1994 and has not stated the reasons for his departure.

Via Gamasutra

 
 
 

Comments [refresh]

by Spirit - 2006-07-24 07:41
» hmm...

First, I think.

Anyway, no one wants to be a part of sony anymore. They're really having trouble...

by PSP ROCKS !! - 2006-07-24 07:43
» KEEP THE FAITH SONY FANS,PSP RULZ,ROLL ON TEEKEN RELEASE DAY !!

no

by PSP ROCKS !! - 2006-07-24 07:44
» KEEP THE FAITH SONY FANS,PSP RULZ,ROLL ON TEKKEN RELEASE DAY !!

I love this website !!!

by VicViper - 2006-07-24 07:56
» haha

*random guy leaves Sony*



QJ: zomg sony is teh d00med!

by daz - 2006-07-24 07:56
» hmmm...

"You know, we as a neutral news source blah blah blah..."



that first line made me laugh completely. Read the article. Has he given a statement as to why he's left? NO. Has he said he was unhappy working with Sony? NO.



It sounds like hes took up a better position somewhere else in gaming, and why not if he gets paid more and suits his life better? i jumped from team liverpool (later Studio 33) to EA games because, well, it paid more and was closer to my home (manchester UK). Just because someone high up in Sony changes career, people jump to conclusions that Sony is in trouble. They don't just make games consoles you know. There probably one of the biggest electrical names in the world, so for them to be "in trouble" would take a rather massive catastrophy. Not that this article will stop "fanboys" from winding each other up

by Police - 2006-07-24 08:01
» Someone, somewhere changes their job

ZOMG Sony is teh doomed!!

by Fin - 2006-07-24 08:16
» eh

Some people leave their jobs or go for other positions its normal as daz pointed out. Theres been only two so far at SCEA? Really, at that low of a number I really don't feel threatened by it. Unless its something like the Take Two/ Rockstar situation where they're having clusters of people leaving and more fired, I see nothing seriously wrong with the situation.

by VicViper - 2006-07-24 08:38
» neutral news source

I like how QJ has suddenly turned from a blog with an opinion of its own (remember all the blog hate for Sony's advertisement campaign?) to a "neutral news source" ...



Guys, I think a proper self-denition is in order.

by FloW3184 - 2006-07-24 08:42
» The rats are leaving the sinking ship....

nocomment

by Sony employee - 2006-07-24 08:44
» Sony's going down... to get up stronger

maybe is his fault if there no more Smackdown for PS3.

..What...... He makes the relation right....



Oh My God . If sony still stay No.1 in the next-gen, the 2 ohter can quit.



I have a other news. The guy how is shiping letters for sony quit to. AH AH AH



WE DON'T CARE ___WE WANT THE FINAL HARDWARE!!!!___ _

by - 2006-07-24 08:44
» Meh

#5: We're not talking about just anybody up and leaving - any time a TOP executive leaves a company, it kicks up some dirt. Let alone two... especially when that company is heading into a crucial moment in their plan.



#8: That's right, we're the only ones that looked at the Sony black/white ad campaign with a bit of skepticism. Places like CNN, the New York Times, etc. were just following our lead. It's nice to have such an impact! [/sarcasm]



Neutral does not equal blind, paying attention does not equal biased.

by mbslrm - 2006-07-24 08:48
» ....

Loser



And besides, this is only TWO people who left. That's not going to make much of a difference....

by scoopFinder - 2006-07-24 08:56
» to no. 12

You right!!



some interesting scoop...



_sony have make some announces for the PSP.



# PSP's firmware update next Thursday will offer RSS Video feed support for its web browser (it already supports RSS audio feed)

# Thursday's firmware update will also have a demo of World Tour Soccer 2

# There are no plans to improve text entry on the PSP and no plans for a first-party keyboard

# Sony is in discussion with wireless providers to create more internet hotspots for your PSP to connect easily to the web

# Video out is something they know is important and are working on getting done

# Sony Connect is working on a way to provide downloadable movies (similar to the music they currently provide), but are held up trying to find a system to protect intellectual properties.



find on web..

by senjutsu - 2006-07-24 09:11
» so what?

I don't see how it's suppose to affect anything, he didn't even said why he got away ( personnally I'd say because Ubisoft is becoming one of the biggest company not based in japan so maybe for someone with experience like with sony for a long time he was able to take the job, maybe with a better pay check, or maybe he just love ubisoft and wanted to work for them from a long time, anyway I don't care, the ps3 will sell even without games so I don't care at all, you must know that in japan they sell like 700k NDS lite per mounth and like 5k xbox 360... so in japan the ps3 will surely sell way more than the x360 and in the world I'd say the predominant console will ( I'm 99% sure ) nintendo wii! x360 will surely be 3rd so stop saying "the wave of hate" I dislike this kind of comment, just say the f**** news it's the only thing you have to do and you can't even do it right... lame...



ps: 200$ saved for ps3

by manman - 2006-07-24 09:13
» uuhh...

QJ you know Sony is going through some serious internal restructuring since a while....



besides there are about 1000 reasons this man is leaving....its normal, employees come and go. Yes, also at the top.

by daz - 2006-07-24 09:21
» so bill gates retires from his position in 2 years....

does that mean his own company, microsoft corp, is in trouble? No, course it doesn't. He's simply moved to a different position that he'd feel happy with.



I don't know what the fuss is with this. The guys been there for 12 years, doing the same job day in day out. How can anybody come to conclusion that PS3 is "doomed" is beyond me. Like i said earlier, its a bigger brand than people take on board, and i firmly believe theres alot less to this than what some idiotic folk are making out

by R Kelly - 2006-07-24 09:32
» Sony

Sony is having a hard time right now with the tension in the company and from outside sources.it is also highly unusual for execs with high paying do nothing jobs just to up and leave.. there are a lot of folks leaving sony at various levels for various reasons..its time for sony to suck it up or to fall..remember how arrogant nintendo got and how fast sony killed them? this next console war could spell doom for sont and they know it... sony fan boys have to open their eyes and realize that it isnt as perfect as they think it is...microsoft is struggling in japan but doing very well everywhere else..nintendo has some large promises to fill and we know how good they are at shattering promises. this will be an interesting generation to be sure.

by pspizzle - 2006-07-24 09:48
» lets just hope he's brought some cool psp ***** with him from sony

nocomment

by daz - 2006-07-24 10:04
» god...ignorance!

"its time for sony to suck it up or to fall"



do people just think Sony deal with games and thats it.

People for whatever reason seem to forget there probably the biggest maker of TV in the world, biggest Hi-Fi producer in the world (at least they were when i worked at Currys), designed the Walkman, dominated 10years of gaming, have one of THE biggest brand names in the world, but oh, because there PS3 might not do as well as PS1 or 2 there doomed.



Take it from someone who works inside the industry, Sony, along with Nintendo and Microsoft, are far, far from doomed in the gaming department

by Police - 2006-07-24 10:15
» Reality

Anyone who has actually worked will know that the higher up people get in the company, the less function they actually do. Take a good look at your manager, and then his boss. WTF do they actually do? So when an exec goes? BFD!

by eagle28 - 2006-07-24 10:23
» Sony psp

i bought the sony psp because its better then ds, but sony sucks if there where a portable xbox id run for that. xbox 360 for the win!

by eagle29 - 2006-07-24 10:32
» @22

"xbox 360 for the win!"



Funny, it's already losing to the PS2, haha. They lost 420+ MILLION LAST MONTH on the xbox. Sure, we can't deny Microsoft can afford that but such horrid losses over long periods (the XBOX only made money one quarter in it's total lifespan) is not and cannot be successful.

by ReCkLeSs X - 2006-07-24 10:50
» Not as big of a deal as you make it sound.

It's not like he quit video gaming completely. He probably wanted a job to help produce video games, rather than consoles.





It's as if you're trying to stir some crap up by posting this.

by TheProfessor - 2006-07-24 11:14
» This is a big deal? I bet when he left Nintendo for Sony noone made a big deal out of it

Is amazing how the PS3 is such a hot item that even news such a this spreads like fire.



FUD, invented by IBM, perfected by MS.

by mikeyp - 2006-07-24 11:38
» dime a dozen

there are plenty of people that are willing to fill the staff at sony the fax machine is probally on over load right now

by Bud Hopkins - 2006-07-24 11:44
» WTF

how did you know I quit damn the internet is GREAT, but yeah BK's toilets are clauged and full of $hi** so yeah Mcdonald's here I come.. ;)



Sony rules, QJ suck's

by Fin - 2006-07-24 11:52
» Wait

So this guy came from Nintendo before Sony? If so you make a valid statement.

by daz - 2006-07-24 11:57
» yes he did

http://www.charlesriver.com/Books/AuthorDetail.aspx?ID=5655



then read the small bit of writing at the very top, confirms he was once a software engineering lead at nintendo. As you see, people come and go from one company to another. Just because he's high up doesnt mean sony is going T1Ts up

by this site is ridiculous - 2006-07-24 12:01
» I hate this negativity. Boring!

Just quit it with the b.s. talk. Sony will live on longer than you or I.

by SteveTao - 2006-07-24 12:04
» Let's See...

With Sony's restructing plan, Sony needs to get rid of redudant staffs. And he's one of them.



In other news, Bill Gates will leave his CEO position in 2 years. OMG, the 360 is doom! Windows is doom too! All xbots are doom!

by demologik - 2006-07-24 13:00
» yep

Microsoft should just cut their losses and just pull the plug on the Xbot.



I mean seriously..



PS3 is teh winnar.

by zafle - 2006-07-24 13:05
» wahlhfsalkndflaknf

i'm sick of hearing biased crap off of this website. who cares if he leaves. qj can suck my balls anymore. just make it a xbox website pfft.



ps3 pwn

by KnowLedge - 2006-07-24 14:32
» LOL

Some of you guys are oversensitive.



But still correct.



People leave companies, they come and go.



What makes me wonder is the fact that he left for Ubisoft, you do know that Ubisoft and SONY seem to be in REALLY good relations? The director of Assassin's Creed was working for SONY as well.

by BOSS - 2006-07-24 16:10
» Kill the Ps3

Something stinks at sony. They fire people who dont tote the company line, like that guy a few months ago who said codeing for the ps3 is very difficult and that female PR chick who left.

by s - 2006-07-24 16:17
» U know?

if blue ray dies...

by daz - 2006-07-24 22:08
» >>no.39

"if blue ray dies..."



...then the PS3 will just have to play DVD movies instead, just like the 360, then use the blu-ray just for games that will utilise the blu-ray format.



Its funny, because Sony has Blu-ray in their PS3 console, everybody assumes that all its games will be on the format. It wont.



Not to mention, it'll be pretty hard for it to fail completely. Unlike HD-DVD, there will be at least 2million people in November who have a blu-ray player.



And i do kinda agree with no.36. This is becoming more of a bad PR site against Sony. Theres plenty of other fan sites who cover all formats from Wii to PS3 and they don't post half the rubbish that goes in here. They only post actual news about games and its consoles, not some half made-up story, making out tht because a person leaves a company, that certain company is screwed.

by SteveTao - 2006-07-25 03:27
» Yep

You go on to the Xbox section, and no where in there do you see an article about Bill Gates leaving his CEO position in 2 years. Even though he official announce that and that's one of the biggest piece of news from Microsoft.

by . - 2006-07-25 11:29
» #41 ^^^

mmm what do you call this...





http://xbox360.qj.net/index.php?pg=49&aid=56038

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