Ken Kutaragi is a Japanese engineering technologist and businessman.
21 Facts About Ken Kutaragi
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Ken Kutaragi is the former chairman and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, the video game division of Sony Corporation, and current president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment.
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Ken Kutaragi is known as "The Father of the PlayStation", as he oversaw the development of the original console and its successors and spinoffs, including the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation 3.
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Ken Kutaragi departed Sony in 2007, a year after the PlayStation 3 was released and six years before the PlayStation 4 was released.
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Ken Kutaragi had designed the sound processor for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
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Ken Kutaragi always had the desire to "tinker", often taking apart toys as a child rather than playing with them.
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Immediately after graduation, Ken Kutaragi began working for Sony in their digital research labs in the mid-1970s.
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Ken Kutaragi quickly gained a reputation as an excellent problem solver and a forward-thinking engineer, earning that reputation by working on many successful projects, including early liquid crystal displays and digital cameras.
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Ken Kutaragi was recognized by many financial and technological publications for this success, most notably when he was named one of the 100 most influential people of 2004 in TIME magazine and the "Gutenberg of Video Games".
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In 1997 Ken Kutaragi was appointed CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, and accordingly moved to California.
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Since 1997, Ken Kutaragi had been favoured to become the next Sony president.
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On 30 November 2006, Ken Kutaragi was replaced as president of Sony Computer Entertainment by Kazuo Hirai, the President of SCE America.
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On 26 April 2007, it was announced that Ken Kutaragi would retire and instead take up the role of Honorary Chairman.
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On 29 June 2011, following the reshuffling of management, Sony announced that on 28 June 2011, Ken Kutaragi had stepped down as honorary chairman of SCEI.
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Ken Kutaragi relinquished active management of the business he created and built in 2007, when he stepped down as executive chairman and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.
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Ken Kutaragi has remained at Sony as senior technology advisor.
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Ken Kutaragi later became president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment, Inc He serves on the boards of Kadokawa Group Holdings, Inc.
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In 2020, Ken Kutaragi became CEO of Tokyo-based AI and robotics startup Ascent Robotics, after serving on its Board of Directors since 2018.
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Sony Interactive Entertainment, which Ken Kutaragi had been heading since its inception, had a weaker year in 2004 after several years of solid growth.
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Ken Kutaragi has labelled the Xbox 360 as "just an Xbox 1.5" and stated that it was "only going after PlayStation 2".
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In September 2006 Ken Kutaragi admitted that the shortage of PlayStation 3 consoles to North America and Japan as well as the postponing of the console's debut in Europe put Sony's strength in hardware in decline.