Ken Kutaragi

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Kutaragi (2014) at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony

Ken Kutaragi ( Japanese 久 夛 良 木 健 , Kutaragi Ken ; born August 8, 1950 in Tokyo ) is a Japanese manager and former head of the game and console manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment . Kutaragi is known as the "father of the PlayStation " and was then responsible for the development of the PlayStation 2 , PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 . He is currently the managing director of Cyber ​​AI Entertainment.

Life

Ken Kutaragi

Kutaragi studied electronics at Denki Tsushin University. From 1975 he began his career as an engineer at Sony. Among other things, he developed the SPC700 sound chip for Nintendo's SNES game console . When an agreement between Sony and Nintendo to develop a CD-ROM drive for the SNES fell through, Sony developed its own console, the PlayStation, based on Kutaragi's work, with which the company successfully entered the game market. As President and CEO, Kutaragi became the head of the newly created games division Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI) and was thus also responsible for the development of the successor models PlayStation 2 , PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 .

While the PlayStation 2 continued the success of the debut, Sony lost its dominant market position with the problematic market launch of the PlayStation 3. While Kutaragi still had a sponsor and supporter in Sony managing director Norio Ohga , the relationship with his successor Howard Stringer was more difficult. Already in November 2006, at the same time as the market launch of the PS3, Kutaragi had to give up his position as President of SCEI to Kazuo Hirai , but remained CEO and Chairman. In April he finally gave up these positions, too, and Hirai succeeded him here as well. In the reporting, this was rated as the disempowerment of Kutaragis, who is considered to be uncommunicative, by CEO Stringer.

Critics see this resignation as the logical consequence of the PlayStation 3 launch, which did not bring the hoped-for success. Kutaragi took over the acquisition costs and the Blu-ray drive. In honor of his position, however, he remained Chairman of SCEI. He also continued to work as a technical consultant for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. His main task, however, was the management of the Cellius company founded with Bandai Namco.

In April 2009 he became visiting professor at Ritsumeikan University .

At the Game Developers Conference 2014, Ken Kutaragi received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his life's work.

Web links

Commons : Ken Kutaragi  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 'Father of the PlayStation' Ken Kutaragi receiving Lifetime Achievement Award at GDC
  2. ↑ Ken Kutaragi Steps Down as Sony CEO
  3. ↑ 久 多 良 木 健 氏 、 サ イ バ ー ア イ ・ エ ン タ テ イ ン メ ン ト ト を 設立 し て 活動 再 開 . In: inside. November 12, 2009. Retrieved July 19, 2012 (Japanese).
  4. ↑ Tony Barthelmann: PlayStation father Ken Kutaragi receives Lifetime Award. In: jpgames.de . February 3, 2014, accessed February 3, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Kutaragi, Ken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 久 夛 良 木 健 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese manager
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Tokyo