Sony has announced changes to the upper echelons of management at Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI), appointing Kazuo “Riiiidge Racer” Hirai as Chairman and SCEE’s Andrew House as President. SCEI, which focuses on Sony’s research & development, production, and hardware sales, will look to Hirai and House for overseeing a strategy that will improve the PlayStation experience “by uniting hardware, content and network…while accelerating the development of the PlayStation business,” said Sony.
“We are facing new challenges this year, such as the successful launch of PlayStation Vita and further growth of PS3 platform as well as expansion of non-gaming business,” said Hirai. But these aren’t the only obstacles Sony faces.
The value of Sony stock has been falling steadily since the Japan earthquake and tsunami earlier this year; Sony Corporation CEO Howard Stringer wasasked to resignrecently at the company’s most attended shareholders meeting in history.
Sony is also still reeling from the aftermath following the security breachesthat led up to the majorPSN outagein April this year. Many PlayStation Network services remainoffline in Japan– and allegations from aclass action lawsuitagainst Sony also suggest that the company was well aware of network security flawsprior tothe cyber attack that compromised over 100 million PSN accounts.
The recent restructuring and changing of the guard seems to be a response to what may have been one of the most difficult years for Sony. Even though former SCEI Chairman and CEO Ken Kutaragi will remain as a senior technology adviser for Sony, the longtime leader has stepped down from his role as Honorary Chairman of SCEI.
According to Sony’s Howard Stringer, 90% of PSN users have returned since the network was brought down in April, indicating that consumers still trust the company and the PlayStation brand. But what about you - do you still trust Sony?
Jun 29, 2011
“We are facing new challenges this year, such as the successful launch of PlayStation Vita and further growth of PS3 platform as well as expansion of non-gaming business,” said Hirai. But these aren’t the only obstacles Sony faces.
The value of Sony stock has been falling steadily since the Japan earthquake and tsunami earlier this year; Sony Corporation CEO Howard Stringer wasasked to resignrecently at the company’s most attended shareholders meeting in history.
Sony is also still reeling from the aftermath following the security breachesthat led up to the majorPSN outagein April this year. Many PlayStation Network services remainoffline in Japan– and allegations from aclass action lawsuitagainst Sony also suggest that the company was well aware of network security flawsprior tothe cyber attack that compromised over 100 million PSN accounts.
The recent restructuring and changing of the guard seems to be a response to what may have been one of the most difficult years for Sony. Even though former SCEI Chairman and CEO Ken Kutaragi will remain as a senior technology adviser for Sony, the longtime leader has stepped down from his role as Honorary Chairman of SCEI.
According to Sony’s Howard Stringer, 90% of PSN users have returned since the network was brought down in April, indicating that consumers still trust the company and the PlayStation brand. But what about you - do you still trust Sony?
Jun 29, 2011
