Very interesting interview here guys, a compelling story which uncovers a lot of inner turmoil that's brewing over at Sony H.Q.
In an interview with WJS, Sony President Howard stringer explains why Ken Kuturagi was forced to step down from his position, and the general animosity Stringer is facing from japanese executives, his own employees at the co-orperation.
Quote:
Mr. Kutaragi was notorious within the company for his reluctance to communicate with his bosses or other units. In 2005, Mr. Kutaragi hosted an event at a big electronics conference in Las Vegas to celebrate the U.S. launch of the PlayStation Portable handheld game machine -- one of the company's biggest products that year. He didn't invite executives from Sony's electronics division, which provided the parts.
Mr. Stringer tried to win Mr. Kutaragi's cooperation with patience. "I've had dinner with [Mr. Kutaragi] more times than I've had dinner with my wife, and that's not really healthy," Mr. Stringer says.
Thanks to the guy's at GAF.
Square Enix launches Final Fantasy X 25th anniversary site, revealing new Nomura art, books, music releases, and merchandise.
Look I know VIII has its issues and all that but how on earth can the do big anniversary events with new artwork and merchandise for VII, IX and X yet VIII got sweet f*** all.
They could have given it something during its 25th anniversary yet all it got was a single Happy Anniversary post on their social media.
they should know that we are OG fans of VIII as it sold truckload as well. not as much as VII or X. I personally didn't like IX but X and VI are my personal fav.
Shadow Hearts 2 covenant is another game I love. I hope one day someone can make remake, I would be delighted
Final Fantasy VIII is great and you are always the first to defend it in the comments
A brutal reset, a smarter story, and a return to what made it great—Mortal Kombat (2011) revived the series.
Underrated comment. I used to hate that game so much that any time my siblings asked me to play it, I just picked Hom and shut myself down mid-match.
15 years went by so fast. I remember playing through the story mode at launch.
Why did Sony push Shuhei Yoshida out of his role leading PlayStation's first-party games? He'd overseen some huge successes. Well, apparently, he didn't listen.
Yeah I can see that for sure. Shuhei Yoshida should have been in charge not Jim Ryan.
It should be free highway for him now.. but Sony are too stupid to see this, especially that moron Hulst
Wtf why all that anger. PlayStation is dominating on every level. Besides I think there is a little more to hiring a CEO than just who is available. Its not like its a athlete your team wants to buy.
S2Killinit
live service failures, chasing trends, closing studios. yes dominating
Sony is Dominating because competition is not existing. Compared to previous gens this is the poorest in terms of software offerings.
Last gen we got Uncharted 4 Lost Legacy and TLOU2 from ND alone.
This is so far a remasters gen, with no competition to lift up the quality
..."PlayStation is dominating on every level"....
...Really???
PlayStation are soon heading into a new generation in the not to distant future. They currently have the worst customer satisfaction they've ever sustained as a company. The company is heading for a huge crash while at the same time they'll need to be planning how they are going to try and win back that favour and the build up to their new releases.
Yes financially they're winning but they're going to have to ride out this complete public corporate disaster. No one has faith in the company or the product anymore. They've damaged their public image so much this generation. Greed can kill anyone.
He would've done the same thing and fire Jim Ryan and Shuhei would be the villain. Why?
Because Elite creates the narrative and distraction for gamers, users and citizens.
More confirmation that Jim Ryan is the culprit for what has happened to Sony. Hulst needs to go too. What sucks is that a lot of the good top heads at Sony are no longer there. I wish that guys that were forced out prematurely by Dumbo Jimbo like Shuhei and Layden came back.
Yep. Yoshida was responsible for bringing one of the best games of this generation to playstation (Stellar Blade). He is an actual gamer and is in touch with what gamers want (creative, fun games, not GaaS and agenda pushing). He also seems like a genuinely nice guy if you watch some interviews. Of course they got rid of him.
Makes you wonder if MS even thought about hiring him after Phil and Sarah were leaving. He certainly couldn't make their situation any worse.
All the gamer/consumer lead heads are gone across PS and Xbox. shuhei gone phil's gone (questionable) but gone. The future of gaming is somewhat uncertain across the board.
Cultural clash, executive clash, vision clash, jeez. Amazingly, things are actually looking up for Sony. They've got the most profitable HDTV line, most profitable film/television studios, and their videogame division is still benefiting from the PS2. Now they need to push harder in smaller electronics like their Walkman series and the PSP, as well as continue to improve the PS3's standing.
I was surprised to hear that Kutaragi (along with many other execs) is very quiet, so much that he didn't inform the higher ups when the Playstation 3 R&D went over-budget. The full explanation of the battery issue really shows how hard it is to manage such problems; had it not been the battery issue, it would have been something else eventually.
They linked it to a forum that has no link posted?
No wonder they never seem to be on the same page. Oh well
No just kidding, but seriously I always said Ken had a few screws loose, don't get me wrong the guy did a great job for Sony with the original Playstation but I think the success went to his head with the PS2 because everything that came out of his mouth had a arrogant and condesending tone to it(also other Sony exec's)....not that all companies especially successful one's don't talk out their @ss sometimes, but jeez!....past success is just that THE PAST, yes brand name is very important but in business its always a balancing act of continuing to produce hits -you can never rest on your laurels and definitely marketing strategy is always part of the equation, so if you are not a "diehard" loyalist then you have to "sell the customer", not just "pat them on the head" and tell them to "just go buy it already". hmmm, just my 2 cents, its was a Good read either way.
no one was on the same idea so you know this was bound to happen it was just a matter of time