Sony PS3 New Order. Now it is Chairmen Ken.

Mike Bantick
Friday, 01 December 2006 08:03

Your IT - Entertainment

Amid analyst reports predicting big losses for Sony, and adjustments to shipping targets, Sony Computer Entertainment has announced movement at the executive level.  This includes a “please sit in the corner” order to the father of the PlayStation.  Is there panic in the electronic giant’s ranks?

No I don’t think so.  Sony has been through this type of early jitters before.  Still this is a big shuffle in the upper echelon.  Ken Kutaragi, PlayStation developer, has – in a similar way to Bill Gates earlier this year – stepped aside from day to day overseeing of the division in favour of U.S. game division head Kaz Hirai.

Sony has always stated that the PlayStation 3 is the single most important product in the group’s extensive line up – this has been confirmed in a statement to Bloomberg by Howard Stringer, Sony CEO.

Having missed production goals, unexpectedly reducing the Japanese PS3 price prior to launch, and with the uncertainty of how well the games console and its associated - expensive - Blu-ray drive will be accepted outside of the Japanese home market, Sony have turned to the experience of Hirai to steer them through this initial turbulence.  Increased competition from other console players will make the ride even more exciting.

Other troubles are brewing on the developer front with Namco Bandai President Yakeo Takasu complaining that the number of sales needed for any one game title to make a buck, is now pushing Half a million.  This is due to production costs for the PS3 platform and compares with around 100,000 for the PS2.

This correspondent cannot help feeling that Takasu is trying to ride a Sony negative publicity wave for some reason.  Sony have always had a level of dictating the quality levels of games for their platforms, and developers have always complied but bemoaned these requirements as pushing up their costs.  But as they become familiar with the platform, this will be less of an issue. 

Perhaps the only possible negative is that we would see increasing amounts of cross platform developed titles, which in my opinion can be somewhat inferior to dedicated exclusive titles.