Biography ken kutaragi ps4

Japanese engineering technologist and businessman (born 1950)

Ken Kutaragi (久夛良木 健, Kutaragi Ken, born 2 August 1950) is a Japanese engineering technologist and businessman, currently president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment. Formerly the chairman and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), the video game division of Sony, Kutaragi is known as "The Father of the PlayStation" having overseen the development of the original console and its successors and spinoffs until departing the company in 2007, shortly after the PlayStation 3 was released.

Kutaragi had also designed the sound processor for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. With Sony, he designed the VLSI chip, which works in conjunction with the PS1's RISC CPU to handle the graphics rendering.

Early years

Kutaragi was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1950. His parents, although not wealthy by Japanese standards, still managed to own their own business, a small printing plant in the city. As Kutaragi grew into childhood, they actively encouraged the young boy to explore his mechanical abilities in the plant, and he worked after school there. Aside from his duties in his parents' factory, Kutaragi was a studious, high-level student.

Kutaragi always had the desire to "tinker", often taking apart toys as a child rather than playing with them. This curiosity carried from childhood, leading him as a teenager to learn the intricacies of electronics. Eventually, in fact, his love of electronics led to him enrolling in University of Electro-Communications, where he acquired an Electronics degree in the 1970s.

Immediately after graduation, Kutaragi began working for Sony in their digital research labs in the mid-1970s. Although at the time it was considered a radical decision, Kutaragi felt that Sony was on the "fast track". He quickly gained a reputation as an excellent problem solver and a forward-thinking engineer, earn

The origin of the PlayStation's now-iconic name might seem elusive to many fans, but Shuhei Yoshida says its conception came down to just one other device – the PC.

Speaking in a recent interview after leaving PlayStation last year, the former president of SIE Worldwide Studios for Sony tells MinnMax how the original console got its name – and no, it wasn't because of Nintendo. Despite Sony's platform initially coming to fruition thanks to a failed partnership with Nintendo, it was actually PlayStation's own so-called "father" Ken Kutaragi who came up with the idea for the console's name.

"I remember the PlayStation idea came from Ken Kutaragi himself," explains Yoshida. "He named it because people use [a] computer and call it [a] workstation." In contrast to the PC, the "workstation," Yoshida stresses that the PlayStation was just that – a device meant for play and not work – and even though the console went on to be successful, with Sony's own data showing over 102.4 million sales for the PS1, not everyone approved of the name at first.

"The US people didn't like it," Yoshida admits, laughing. "I remember US people [said], 'Well, PlayStation sounds very kiddy – childish.'" Judging by the PlayStation console's legacy and ongoing success, however, I'd argue it's safe to say that Kutaragi probably made the right choice with its name, regardless of opposing opinions at the time. More than three decades have passed since then, and PlayStation is going as strong as ever.

Sony veteran Shuhei Yoshida reveals PlayStation's first video game: an FMV space shooter for Nintendo that was "almost finished"

Ken Kutaragi (久夛良木 健, Kutaragi Ken, born 2 August 1950) is a Japanese engineering technologist and businessman. He is the former chairman and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI), the video game division of Sony Corporation, and current president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment. He is known as "The Father of the PlayStation", and its successors and spinoffs, including the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation 3, not including the Playstation 4, onwards as Kutaragi left Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2007.

He had also designed the sound processor for the Super NES. With Sony, he designed the VLSI chip which works in conjunction with the PS1's RISC CPU to handle the graphics rendering. Kutaragi was closely watched by financial analysts who trace profiles of the losses and profits of the Sony Corporation.

Early years[]

Kutaragi was born in Tokyo, Japan. His parents, although not wealthy by Japanese standards, still managed to own their own business, a small printing plant in the city. As Kutaragi grew into childhood, they actively encouraged the young boy to explore his mechanical abilities in the plant, and he worked after school there. Aside from his duties in his parents' factory, Kutaragi was a studious, high-level student; he was often described as a "straight-A student."

Kutaragi always had the desire to "tinker", often taking apart toys as a child rather than playing with them. This curiosity carried from childhood, leading him as a teenager to learn the intricacies of electronics. Eventually, in fact, his love of electronics led to him enrolling in University of Electro-Communications, where he acquired an Electronics degree in the 1970s.

Immediately after graduation, Kutaragi began working for Sony in their digital research labs in the mid-1970s. Although at the time it was considered a radical decision, Kutaragi felt that Sony was on the "fast track". He quickly gained a reputat

I grew up within the PlayStation organization, and towards the end of my tenure was running advertising, product marketing and then ultimately PlayStation Network before I left. But during that journey, at one point I was an assistant product manager, and I was coming up in the ranks and my job then was to market all the games that came out of Japan. [...]

And there was this one game that I was assigned called PaRappa the Rapper. [...]

If you think back to that time, [PaRappa] was very perky, a bit wonky. Everyone kind of cocked their head at it and were wondering, you know, how is this going to resonate here in the U.S.?

It was actually one of Ken’s favorite games. He really took to the character, took to the charm, loved the fact that we were making a really simple music game, and saw, I think, the opportunity for the cultural impact that it would have, particularly in Japan.

And so I was assigned this game and I was working with TBWA\Chiat\Day, who was our agency of record at the time, on what was going to be the U.S. marketing campaign at launch for this game, which is essentially [about] a rapping puppy, right?

Then our head of marketing, Andrew House, sent me to Japan to go present the campaign to Ken. And at the time, being really kind of young and whatever, the prospect of going to Japan and going to headquarters and presenting to the founder and CEO was pretty intimidating.

And I get there and I walk into — you know, it’s August; it’s hot as heck and super humid — walk into this office that’s like one of those really long boardrooms and they set me up. And Ken walks in with a small entourage and he sits at the end of the table, and there was a translator and probably three or four people that I have no idea who they are. And I go and do my pitch for the campaign that we all loved in the U.S., and then he just kind of, you know, slammed his fist on