Father of Sony PlayStation, Ken Kutaragi, Steps Down

Cnn.com reports that PlayStation icon and chief architect of Sony PlayStation game console stepped down from his position on Tuesday. In April, the former chief executive announced that he desired to retire, and now he is doing it.

The stepping down of PlayStation's icon comes at an inconvenient time as PlayStation struggles to revive its reputation while facing steep competition from the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox. Kutaragi's retirement will mark the end of an era when Sony PlayStation dominated the gaming arena.

PlayStation must somehow try to recuperate from the recent embarrassments it has faced concerning the release of the new PlayStation 3, Kutaragi's recent brainchild. The PlayStation 3 carries a hefty price tag of 600.00 and has been up against defeating publicity stunts created by Nintendo and the Microsoft Xbox. Many fans believe that PlayStation 3's $600.00 price tag is little more than ridiculous.

Time.com reports that it is not expected that Sony will get a profit in the business of gaming until about the fiscal year that ends in March 2009. Now, PlayStation 3 must deal with production shortages. The $600.00 price tag that caused the company to put the Playstation 3 on sale late last year and hand out free games as a customer incentive.

Techtree.com reported that Sony's CEO Sir Howard Stringer has admitted that the competition from Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Wii has been quite intense. Stringer said that the Wii is a successful enterprise and that the business model is high quality. However, his compliments on the Wii's business model are in light of its cheaper price.

Time.com reports that in the fiscal year going through March 31^st, Sony shipped 5.5 million PS3 consoles from Tokyo. The company had a target of 6 million. Meanwhile, Nintendo shipped 5.84 Wii consoles all over the world.

Time.com reports that the person who will now be heading the company is Kazuo Hirai, SCE's former president. Hirai was also the chief operation officer of SCE. Last year, Kutaragi was relieved of the responsibilities he had on a day-to-day basis. However, he had remained chief executive and chairman. Even though Ken will not be a PlayStation board member, he will have an advisory position for the console.

Hopefully, PlayStation will soon be able to pick itself up. Since price cuts on the PlayStation 3 should lead right up the holiday season, and the company is introducing new games, something about Playstation3 should swing in a more positive direction.

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