Kutaragi: Sony's Strength in Hardware in Decline
Shocking honesty from the Sony man
At a hastily organised press conference last week with Reuters and other selected press, Sony Computer Entertainment President Ken Kutaragi made this fairly shocking and brutally honest statement; "If you asked me if Sony's strength in hardware was in decline, right now I guess I would have to say that might be true."
This rare bit of hands-up honesty from Sony was of course following the potentially disastrous announcement regarding the PS3 European launch date slipping to March 2007 and is hot on the heels of a product recall involving millions of Sony-made laptop batteries.
On the issue of the battery recall, Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management told Reuters; "All of this has raised concerns about whether there is something fundamentally wrong with Sony's manufacturing process, and it could further damage the Sony brand."
With investor confidence dropping to perhaps an all-time low, Sony really needs to focus on getting those PS3s assembled and working - with no glitches or disk scratching - and up its PR game in order to win back favour amongst European gamers.
This rare bit of hands-up honesty from Sony was of course following the potentially disastrous announcement regarding the PS3 European launch date slipping to March 2007 and is hot on the heels of a product recall involving millions of Sony-made laptop batteries.
On the issue of the battery recall, Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management told Reuters; "All of this has raised concerns about whether there is something fundamentally wrong with Sony's manufacturing process, and it could further damage the Sony brand."
With investor confidence dropping to perhaps an all-time low, Sony really needs to focus on getting those PS3s assembled and working - with no glitches or disk scratching - and up its PR game in order to win back favour amongst European gamers.
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Comments
realvictory 11 Sep 2006 20:30
1/3
Oh, don't be such a wimp - people are only having a laugh!
The second they give up, Microsoft (i.e. Bill Gates) becomes in charge of the games industry. Which isn't a bad thing in itself, but we need Japanese for it to be any good!
No disrespect, but if the PS3 and XBox 360 were the same price and the same spec, I would still get a PS3 - bear that in mind.
How I see it is that because Microsoft has been sympathetic to consumers and developers, they have succeeded. Sony has become slightly complacent, on the other hand. All that's going to happen is that the easier it is for a company to monopolise an industry, the more complacent they will become.
In the games industry, complacency is suicide.
The second they give up, Microsoft (i.e. Bill Gates) becomes in charge of the games industry. Which isn't a bad thing in itself, but we need Japanese for it to be any good!
No disrespect, but if the PS3 and XBox 360 were the same price and the same spec, I would still get a PS3 - bear that in mind.
How I see it is that because Microsoft has been sympathetic to consumers and developers, they have succeeded. Sony has become slightly complacent, on the other hand. All that's going to happen is that the easier it is for a company to monopolise an industry, the more complacent they will become.
In the games industry, complacency is suicide.
Joji 12 Sep 2006 13:12
2/3
I guess this is true but the took their sweet time to admit it. I feel its still up to Sony to stop messing up and get back on track.
I too would prefer a japanese industry leader, because then I know those japanese games I love are guaranteed to grace whatever console. An MS lead would be a lot darker in feel and content.
I suppose its now up to Nintendo to show everyone how things need to be done. I pray if Sony slip, Nintendo can replace them.
I too would prefer a japanese industry leader, because then I know those japanese games I love are guaranteed to grace whatever console. An MS lead would be a lot darker in feel and content.
I suppose its now up to Nintendo to show everyone how things need to be done. I pray if Sony slip, Nintendo can replace them.
realvictory 12 Sep 2006 15:13
3/3
Microsoft might know a lot about their own personal "games industry", but they know s**t-all about the games industry that I like. It's becoming predictable, in a bad way - it used to be predictable in a good way back in the old days.
I feel like Microsoft is simply on a crusade to make people think they're "cool", which I'm not going to. Underdogs are what is cool, i think - so the harder they try, the more money they might make, but the sillier they look, to me. Microsoft appears to care too much about the end goal; taking it safely, as opposed to being ambitious, which is the wrong frame of mind, I think.
I feel like Microsoft is simply on a crusade to make people think they're "cool", which I'm not going to. Underdogs are what is cool, i think - so the harder they try, the more money they might make, but the sillier they look, to me. Microsoft appears to care too much about the end goal; taking it safely, as opposed to being ambitious, which is the wrong frame of mind, I think.