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Analysts on Kutaragi's departure, Hirai as CEO

Posted Apr 26, 2007 at 9:43AM EST by Karl B.

Listed in: PS3, PSP Tags: Associated Press, Billy Pidgeon, John Taylor, Ken Kutaragi, Michael Pachter, playstation 3 updates, Sony

A few hours ago, we reported that Ken Kutaragi, the mind behind Sony's PlayStation consoles, will be stepping down from his post as Sony Computer Entertainment CEO on June 19. A lot of speculation and analysis have surrounded the news, so here's a look at what some analysts have to say about it.

The reason. Both Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson and IDC analyst Billy Pidgeon seem to believe that Kutaragi's resignation is due to the PS3's less-than-stellar initial showing. Speaking to Bloomberg, Wilson said that it's "likely an indication Sony corporate isn't satisfied with the initial success of the PS3." Pidgeon, meanwhile, told the Associated Press that "Sony had too much hype and not enough delivery."

Other analysts, though, believe otherwise. "It can't be his fault that the cost of the box was so high, and I have a tough time believing he insisted on Blu-ray," Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter told GameDaily. "They probably just all agreed it was time to move on. Sony didn't have a great lineup of first party software for the PS3 or the PSP, and didn't get as much third party support this time around.

Kaz Hirai - Image 1

The replacement. The general concensus among analysts is that Kaz Hirai's move into Kutaragi's old position is a good thing overall for SCE. "I think Kaz Hirai is great, and the company probably doesn't need a visionary for another 10 years," said Pachter. "They need an operations guy, need to drive costs down, and need to develop more software support (internal and external). Hirai will be great at that."

John Taylor of Arcadia Research echoes Pachter's opinion, noting that with Hirai at the helm, Sony might redouble its efforts to make the PS3 - along with future products - more net-centric. "Kaz brings a new level of awareness of Western preferences and technology trends to SCE. He has firsthand experience with dealing with Microsoft's online momentum in the U.S. competitive environment."

Via GameDaily

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Congrats to Kaz for his promotion to CEO. I can't wait to see what he can do for Sony and the PS3.

Who cares about the little Ridge Racer incident at E3 '06, he likes Ridge Racer. He still made a great presentation and I want him to give the presentation for E3 '07 which should be sometime next month.

# Who Gives a *****... — Darth Manson 2007-04-26 12:04

BTW is that 2 pics of the same dude, or more of the "Sifo Dyas ordered" clones?

# yay! — Guest 2007-04-26 12:13

Regardless of whether this resignation was forced, Kutaragi was recently becoming out of touch with the mainstream gaming community. The playstation 1 and 2 were great consoles that were both groundbreaking in their day for various reasons.

But then I bought my PSP, and even after owning for 18 months the system never felt totally comfortable to me. The extremely slow typing for web browsing, the lack of a 2nd analog stick for FPS games, the low amount of ram (32MB instead of 64MB), the unnecessary proprietary optical disc known as UMD, and various other odds and ends left me disappointed. It sent a message of "Sony's not going to design the PSP to the needs and requests of the gaming community...Sony tells you what you do and don't like." And then there was the huge lack of games. And then I sold my PSP.

And then there was the PS3. Hugely disappointing to people of all sorts. Some people brush the criticism off by saying the Sony bashing is just the current flavor of the month, but I don't think that says enough. People are frustrated by the forced move into BluRay, the lack of software titles, the lack of good APIs to complete with dev suites like XNA, the underdeveloped online support...and all for a premium price that is out of range of the mainstream gamer audience. Once again I felt the message of Sony trying to tell me what was good for me, instead of Sony recognizing the trends of the industry and not only keeping up but staying ahead of those trends. Instead Sony veered away from trends and went their own route.

And at the head of the less the stellar PSP project and at the head of the royally disappointing PS3 project was Kutaragi. I can see why he's no longer in that position.

I'll eventually get a PS3 and a PSP again. What will it take? The PS3 needs rumble, the price needs to drop $200, and the online support has to be well supported. As for the PSP, all they need to do is take that beautiful screen and make it touch sensative. And extra 32MB of ram wouldn't hurt either for portable web browsing, but the touchscreen would be the most exciting addition. Hopefully Kaz will have better insight into games industry trends. If anyone can, he can.

# ... — Guest 2007-04-26 12:32

good job getting rid of him... too bad they waited until AFTER he had successfully killed their brand name and squandered their massive marketshare.

# X360 Vs. PS3 [Fact Sheet] [Fact Sheet] [Fact Sheet] [Fact Sheet] [Fact Sheet] [Fact Sheet] — Guest 2007-04-26 13:23

* Halo 3 will be humiliated first then trampled by Lair (cinema quality motion), Ratchet & Clank (Walt Disney meets Pixar), Warhawk (better than Unreal Tournament 3), Heavenly Word (next-gen God of War 3) and Killzone 2 (next-gen Half-Life 3). All these will be released in Jul to Sep. 2007.

* Halo 3 is NOT made from scratch. Halo 3 is an updated version of Halo 2 which was out in 2004 by using Renderware engine (confirmed fact; Bungie chose this method to save huge amount of development time and budget); therefore, Halo 3 is NOT a true next-gen title. Halo 3 can’t even use X360 console’s most power. Renderware is far inferior to other advanced engines such as, Source, Unreal, CryEngine, etc.

* This is why Crapalo (Halo) 3 looks like ‘Halo 2.5 HD’ in terms of graphics and gameplay (NO breakable buildings or vegetation, NO deformable objects, NO soft shadows, NO facial-animation, NO depth-of-field, NO motion blur, etc). The new Halo 3 alpha footage looks crappy. There're alpha footages of Gears of War and Resistance available online, unless you are blind, you must realize the fact that alpha builds look 90% same as the final versions.

* Halo 3's world is as shinny (bright, flashy with HDR lighting effects) as the one in Perfect Dark Zero. PDZ was the best looking game when it was released in 2005. PDZ and Kameo were made by Rare which is a subsidiary of Microsoft Game Studios (MGS, not the Metal Gear Solid). MGS also owns FASA (which makes Shadowrun) and Bugie (Halo 3). All these companies share all kinds of technologies (DirectX based) which are used to make X360 games. This is the biggest reason why Shadowcrap, Perfect Dark Crap, Kameo and Halo 3 have extremely similar graphical quality (artistic design).

* Bungie's officially announced in Nov. 2006 that Gears of War has very much superior graphics to Halo 3's final (retail) version (GameSpot’s editor asked “What game has better graphics, GoW or Halo 3?). If you know the definition of ‘paraphrasing’, above statement means “Halo 3 will look very much inferior to GoW in the graphics department.

* Killzone 2 is built from scratch (true next-gen); therefore, KZ2 can use most potential power of PS3 hardware. Guerrilla which is a subsidiary of Sony has 120 employees (programmers and graphics designers). The total budget for KZ2 is $21 million (for your reference, Epic spent $9 m to make Gears of War with 80 devs).

* All Sony’s internal developers and Sony’s very close world class companies share all kinds of technologies which are used for making PS3 games (OpenGL based). These top developers are those companies which make games like: MotorStorm, Metal Gear Solid 4, Warhawk, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, White Knight Story, Tekken 6, Heavenly Sword, Gran Turismo 5, Virtua Fighter 5, Final Fantasy XIII, FF versus XIII, Lair, Uncharted-Drake's Fortune, Eight Days, Getaway, God of War 3, Jak and Daxter, Heavy Rain, Afrika, Home and of course Killzone 2.

* Polyphony’s Gran Turismo 4 on PS2 is world's most popular racing game in the entire gaming history based on the number of copies sold. GT HD demo was released in 2006; all game reviewers were surprised that GT HD was just good (80/100) when they expected this new GT HD must have got review scores of 97/100 just like all of its predecessors. After this shock, Polyphony officially confirmed GH HD was an upgraded version of PS2's GT 4; that's why it looks just good. Polyphony later announced that they totally scraped the whole GT HD project and working on GT 5 entirely from scratch. Bungie must take a leaf out of Polyphony’s book; Bungie should scrap Halo 3 then make it from scratch then release it in 2010.

# eh — Guest 2007-04-26 13:50

i think everyone can agree, Harai > Kutagari

# Regarding the PSP... — Guest 2007-04-26 13:58

It seems like you were expecting the PSP to be a "portable PS2".

I've had my PSP since launch, and am more then happy with it : )

# lol — Guest 2007-04-26 14:02

I can't believe that you would waste that much time typing your opinion... (More like an article

)

# Lack of a touchscreen is what get's you down? — damonous 2007-04-26 15:32

...Then buy a lame-o Pocket PC. Really. What dark place are you pulling those PSP wish-lists from? "It should have had 64mb instead of 32mb", .... what? --because 32mb is too low, but 64mb isn't? Silly. This isn't Windows XP running on the PSP. I have also had mine since launch. Like ANY new system, there is always a 'dry spot' of games at the beginning. But, if you look at the store shelves now, I think it's time to buy it again. ---And while we're on that: if you're actually going to buy BOTH the PS3 and the PSP AGAIN at some point, doesn't that speak to the quality of system design? I mean, you SAY that you don't like them because there are no good games, etc.; but then why would you even consider buying them again later, if the quality of the systems was not evident. --And, please tell me how it is that CONSUMERS are not buying the PS3 due to "lack of good APIs to compete with dev suites like XNA"? --Yeah, that's what I look for in a game console: "does it have APIs that compete with XNA? --No? --outta' here!. --Smoke on, pal. I think Mr Kutaragi got the boot because he built the machines to his 'dream spec', and cost-wise, each machine is higher to produce (even over the long haul) than Sony corporate would have liked.

# man — Guest 2007-04-26 16:03

look at the kaz mans picture he has such a smug look on it

# d — Guest 2007-04-26 20:15

ridge racer sucks, its completely unrealistic how you drive the cars, and its even worse than that hot wheels game.

# whoa nice — Guest 2007-04-26 23:56

intresting, if you don't mind i'll be copy pasting this evreywhere.

spread the word

# what did they expect — Guest 2007-04-27 01:24

if the ps3 was cheaper, then it would have made their expectations, so lower the price so we can buy one

# .. — Guest 2007-04-27 01:48

I believe the PS3 is great value for money and I am glad sony did not go down the same route as the 360 and the wii. The console is expensive at the moment and there are not many games for it but it will eventually drop in price , perhaps next year , by which time there will be plenty of games for the system and the blue-ray will seem like the biggest bargain ever.

as for the psp , I think it is a great system and you get a lot for your money again . i cant say i am disappointed in it because i prefer the bigger screen and its multimedia capabilities. the games on the other hand are below par apart from sonys first party titles like killzone and loco roco , but there are still great games out there for it. I think the complaint about the second analog stick is valid. since everyone expects the psp to be a portable ps1.5 the missing second analog stick is a big wake up call ..it ISNT a ps1.5 ....its a different system . sony would have hit a slam dunk if the second analog stick was there i am sure , and i am sure they will include one in the psp2.

# .. — Guest 2007-04-27 01:56

this is intresting ..i saw halo 3 alpha and thought it looked crap. I have been playing killzone liberation on the psp and it is a very nice looking and playing game., and so i am looking forward to killzone on the ps3 and if they spent that much on it i am sure it will be the dogs bollocks especially as i am sure they will be trying to get as much out of the sytem as they can.

# ?? — Guest 2007-04-27 03:53

Sorry, but the analysts have been saying this since launch.

# oh brother — Guest 2007-04-27 04:01

Why is this post even in here. You spent how long writing it? Then post it in a forum that has nothing to do with the 360. Good work fantard.

You make me ashamed to be a Once diehard Sony fan.

Seriously, get a life beyond gaming.

I love when people write fact sheet, about an article writen by them, that is nothing but persional views. Your clearly a fantard.

Heres a tip, you want to be taken seriously, stop wrting like a Sony sheep.

Heres a fact, the only footage of killzone was CGI made by a movie company. And the first one was really bad. It could have been great, but ti wasnt. Lair also looks lack luster.

And why just becasue bungie has placeholder textures, that were halo 2 texture, you think its just a update, kinda like ninja Gaiden Sigma.

Cross posting you post only serves in making Sony fans look bad, or that there are grasping for straws, good work.

# if only it could happen — Guest 2007-04-27 04:15

if ps3 can lower its price to 360.

# You're right — Guest 2007-04-27 16:18

The PS1 and PS2 were awesome game consoles yet the psp and ps3 was a dissappointment . I don't have my psp anymore cause it stop working (the green power light turns on but the screen stays black and the psp doesn't turn off unless (obviously) I remove the battery. I decided not to buy another one because what I really liked from the psp was portable homebrew but it wasn't as good as I expected it (and the few games I bought sucked except GTA). The lack of good games and high price just makes the psp a horrible system, yet powerful. for a portable. Already around 2-3 years since the psp was released and the library of games is lacking a lot, it looks like the DS's library 2 months after it was released. Now, I don't have the PS3 but a friend of mine has it and we both think it was a dissappointment (so much for him he bought a 360 and is thinking of selling it used to Gamespot). Sony holded many promises like they did on the PS2 which they didn't keep (although the PS2 was the best thing at it's time so it was still worth buying a PS2). Sony promised some amazing graphics yet when I compare ingame grphics (not trailers) of the PS# to in game graphics of the 360 the 360 games have better graphics, the 360 library is bigger and the 360 costs less. This is dissappointntin g for those who bought the PS3 and paying 600 dollars beleiving it was gonna be a better than a 360. And in the end, why blu-ray? it will take like 3-4 more years for DVDs to start dissappearing (remember that when the DVD came the VHS started dissappearing like 4 years later? heck, still I see VHS movies in rental places). What about free online play? It's not worth it when the games are gonna lag every 2 minutes for like 10 seconds because of faulty online service. I hope with Kutaragi gone Sony realizes that they should invest on things they were good at before video games (important things), like televisions, cameras, music players, ect.

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