Imbecile of the Week #5: Ken Kutaragi
Last week Airbus announced it was replacing the guy in charge of its A380 superjumbo because of continued delays to production. The delays don’t help when the company is struggling to sell enough of the machines to break even.
Well a similar – and potentially more expensive – situation is going on at Sony, where the Playstation 3 has been delayed in Europe and its production volumes to the U.S. and Japan have been cut to a paltry 500,000 each. They were supposed to sell 4,000,000 consoles by the end of 2006 and will now only manage 2,000,000 tops. It’s causing major problems for Sony as it gives Microsoft yet another Christmas season to dominate as the #1 console.
The production of the PS3 has been delayed because of the Blu-Ray disc players that go inside them. Blu-Ray is one of two competing formats (the other being HD-DVD) hoping to replace the humble DVD as the disc of choice for film and video-game consumers. Both formats have been beset by problems such as a shortage of blue-coloured lasers, discs that just don’t work, and the new version of Windows not supporting either.
But there’s been no chopping of heads as seen at Airbus.
It might because there’s nothing Sony can do about it, so it’s no-one’s fault (hardly likely), or more probably, it could be because of a different management style (Airbus’s boss got into trouble because he didn’t warn the Board of Directors that the plane was going to be delayed by turbulence).
Sony have got a lot to lose from having the PS3 delayed: not just poor figures for 2006, but also a loss in market share as parents buy their kids XBoxes for Christmas, and a boost for HD-DVD which looks set to get to market far quicker than its arch-rival.
Ken Kutaragi (boss of Sony’s Computer Entertainment division) might have kept his job for now, but in the second round of Format Wars, HD-DVD has been dealt another card in its favour.
06 Sep 2006 14:32
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Tags: Computing Geekery Imbecile Of The Week Playstation Playstation 3 Ps3 Sony
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The D
A very important correction should be noted for your article.
“production volumes to the U.S. and Japan have been cut to a paltry 500,000 each”
Actually that’s 500,000 combined. The US is currently supposed to get 400,000 at launch and Japan 100,000. Presumably because Sony feels Microsoft is no threat to their marketshare in Japan.
http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6657
Also, these are all projected figures by Sony. Production is not set to start until the end of September, so the actual numbers could be far lower. When one considers the hardware failure rate of PS2s and 360s at launch, and how much more likely these problems are with new and untested technology made at the last minute…. Let’s just say that for all practical intents and purposes, PS3s won’t be available in NA or Japan until March either.
08 Sep 2006, 02:00
Thanks for the info! I agree about the projected figures – I’d be very surprised if they got even 1million out by the end of the year.
08 Sep 2006, 09:50
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