Topic: Ken Kutaragi "Retires"

[decoyman]

Anybody see this?

Ken Kutaragi "retires" in June

[Arbok]

Man, I'm just shocked......that this didn't happen sooner.

[Ian Sane]

On one hand I'm all "high five" and the other I'm bummed.  It should be good that an annoying idiot like Kuturagi is gone but at the same time it would be better for Sony's destruction if that numbo stayed on board.  Ideally I should want Krazy Kenny to remain on board and further ruin the PS3's image with his insane comments.

Besides it ain't like he's broke.  In a big corporation like this anyone who is forced to "retire" does so with a decent amount of financial insurance.  It ain't like Ken is going to have to work McDonald's now to make a living.  So he's an assh0le and he's helped ruin the Playstation name but he's rich so getting canned isn't exactly like when you or I get fired.

[decoyman]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
On one hand I'm all "high five" and the other I'm bummed.  It should be good that an annoying idiot like Kuturagi is gone but at the same time it would be better for Sony's destruction if that numbo stayed on board.  Ideally I should want Krazy Kenny to remain on board and further ruin the PS3's image with his insane comments.

It's funny because it's true

But think of all the good times ol' Ken's given us. I don't know that Kaz Hirai could ever surpass the legacy of whacked-out comments and general craziness that Kutaragi has dished out over the years.

In all seriousness... what do you really think was wrong with him? Was he senile? It seems like so many of his earlier decisions were so good, and so many of his latest ones... well... you know.

[MLS_man_64]

But how will he be able to buy his children PS3's this year for Christmas without a job?  He may have to but them Wii's.
(If he could find any to buy)

[BigJim]

Just as well. What's left to accomplish after inventing 4-D games?

[Ceric]

From teh sounds of it he still has a job just not as high a position.

[mantidor]

I find so funny that the photoshopped image of the huge ps3 has become practically the official one.

 

[Ian Sane]

"In all seriousness... what do you really think was wrong with him? Was he senile? It seems like so many of his earlier decisions were so good, and so many of his latest ones... well... you know."

This isn't uncommon.  Everyone thought George Lucas was a genius until we decided to try to remove the original Star Wars verisions from existence and made the prequels.  Wrestling fans will know that Eric Bicshoff had some incredibly ideas in the hey-dey of WCW that resulted in WCW kicking the WWF's ass and then almost overnight a few dumb choices sent the company into a downward spiral.  Glen Sather won five Stanley Cups coaching the Edmonton Oilers but for many years was considered a joke as GM of the New York Rangers until a few years ago when the Rangers finally made the playoffs again.  Sometimes people slip or they can't handle change or they fluked out and never where that brilliant to begin with.

I think Ken's problem and Sony's in general is that as the Playstation became more successful they tried to push it to do more things and expand beyond gaming and went too far.

[Djunknown]

Retiring? And he has no gray hair or wrinkles? What's his secret?

Quote
Kaz will fill the CEO spot, while Ken will maintain "honorary" status as chairman of the group and will hang around with Sony CEO Howard Stringer, acting as senior technology adviser.

Sounds very similar to what Yamauchi is doing. Both men were very successful in kick starting their businesses but made some strange/odd decisions as time went on. Both are succeeded by more rational men.

Oh well. Can't blame him for what happens from here on out.

[that Baby guy]

I remember Yamauchi saying that if the DS wasn't successful, Nintendo might flop.  Something to that extent, at least.

I notice he isn't in the "prints money" picture.

[Kairon]

He flew too close to the sun?

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Bill Aurion]

One clown steps down, another takes his place... =\

[IceCold]

I guess he won't be able to work overtime to save up for his PS3.

[S-U-P-E-R]

ahahahahahahahahah


hahahahahahahahahah




ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

I hope he likes his new "honorary" position they set up for him. That position being all fours.

[GoldenPhoenix]

This is horrible news, who are we going to laugh at now? I say bring Ken back!  

[Caliban]

Iwata wants Ken working with Nintendo...w-t-f-!

[S-U-P-E-R]

Quote
Originally posted by: Caliban
Iwata wants Ken working with Nintendo...w-t-f-!

haha link/quote plz!

Do they want him for his experience, corporate secrets, or...?

[couchmonkey]

IceCold: Nice reference.

Last night was just crazy for news, I'm still trying to process it all.  I think Kutaragi had the right idea at the right time with the original Playstation, but as he tried to continue onward with his vision of a set-top box (he declared Microsoft Sony's main competition before Xbox had ever been announced) he lost track of what made Playstation really popular.  Just because The Matrix was the top-selling PS2 title in March 2001 doesn't mean people want an all-in-one home entertainment machine.

I wish Crazy KK good luck in the future.

[vudu]

Quote
Originally posted by: S-U-P-E-R
haha link/quote plz!

Nintendo would love to add Kutaragi to their team

Quote
Mr. Iwata has stated that he would love to see Kutaragi join up with Nintendo. Even though Ken is retiring, he will still hold an honorary position at Sony. Mr. Iwata then stated that honorary position may make it a little tough to work with him.

[Pittbboi]

I don't know what to think about this...

The Kutaragi of today is, well...a screw up. But it can't be denied that he was a major force on Sony's team in his good ol' days. If Nintendo gave him a position with enough power to employ some of his good ideas, but not enough to force his bad ones, maybe him joining up with Nintendo could be a very good thing.

Let's see...Miyamoto's Personal Whipping Boy sounds like a nice starter position lol. But seriously, can you imagine what two great minds like Shigeru Miyamoto and (Pre-PS3) Ken Kutaragi could come up with in this day and age?

[BlackNMild2k1]

Nintendo would love to add Kutaragi to their team

Quote
Mr. Iwata has stated that he would love to see Kutaragi join up with Nintendo. Even though Ken is retiring, he will still hold an honorary position at Sony. Mr. Iwata then stated that honorary position may make it a little tough to work with him.

OMG, I knew there was something going on between Sony and Nintendo. Now it all makes sense (kinda). Nintendo wanted the dominant position back after losing the initial bet with Sony that Sony couldn't make a successful home console. So Nintendo, turned to KK to work the inside angle and reverse position of each other consoles after the 10year clause of the bet was over. Nintendo needed Ken to do what was neccessary to amke sure that the PS3 wouldn't be a direct competitor to the Wii, and in return they would save him a lucrative position within the walls of Nintendo and a seat at the table in the house the Mario built. [/conspiracy theory]

[that Baby guy]

I have to be skeptical about the offer.  It looks a little bit like a joke, to me, because of the statement that follows.  The problem is that I don't entirely understand Japanese humor enough to be able to tell if it is or not.

That said, I think several of Kutaragi's pressure came from difficulty handling all of the commands and requests put in for the PS3.  I imagine Sony wanted a little too much from the PS3, and thought that if they had big mouths, they could defeat the 360 and Wii before the PS3 even launched, like what happened to the DC and the PS2.  This time, they probably saw it wasn't working entirely, so the higher-ups kept putting pressure on Kutaragi to put better spin on their PR, and that eventually led to his downfall.

I think most people agree that when one part of Sony does something well, several other branches try to ride that one part's success, and it usually ends up ruining the original part.  I think Kutaragi is probably a victim of this too, with Blu-ray, and perhaps Home, too.

[Ian Sane]

I don't think Ken would work out with Nintendo even if he had good ideas.  The Playstation's success was largely because of Sony being the anti-Nintendo.  When Nintendo did something stupid, out-of-touch or inflexible or Nintendo blatantly tried to jerk someone around (third parties, consumers) for an extra buck here or there Sony was doing something smart that was in-touch with the current trends and they were considerable more friendly to everyone involved offering lower licence fees and cheaper games.  If Ken worked for Nintendo and actually had some good ideas stubborn ol' Nintendo would probably not go with them because those aren't "Nintendo type ideas".  Nintendo could have had Ken on their team in 1995 and they still would have gone with cartridges on the N64.  Nintendo seems like a company where you have to be totally in sync with the way they do things.  Ken would probably point out stuff they are blatantly doing wrong and Nintendo would ignore them because those are "Sony ideas" being presented by a guy who used to work for the competition.

Nintendo probably could use some advice from within that went against the grain.  But do you think Nintendo execs want to be told that their online setup is needlessly sucky or that any method they've ever had for distributing demos has just been outright WRONG?  No.  Only if they specifically thought that they needed some work and wanted someone to come in and shake things up would they go for it.

This isn't necessarily totally a Nintendo thing.  Most big corporations probably don't like unrequested criticism either.

[Aretak]

Farewell, Father

Great article about the career of Kutaragi there. While he may have been a PR disaster, his overall positive contribution to the games industry as we know it cannot be questioned.