It has been a whirlwind last few months for Sony, with the earthquake in Japan and hack of the PlayStation Network severely harming the corporation’s attempts to bounce back from the effects of a tough global economy. In an ongoing restructure to help improve Sony, current CEO and co-COO of SCE Europe Andrew House will take a step up to the position of group president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment International, effective starting September 1st.
House will replace Kazuo Hirai, who will now take on the role of SCE International chairman, up from Executive Deputy President of Sony. This was not the only change that occurred as current chairman Akira Sato will be retiring effective August 31, 2011. All three had something to say on this entire subject, so check out the quotes below.
Kazuo Hirai:
In fiscal 2010, we achieved profitability for the first time in five years as a result of group-wide united efforts, including continuous cost reduction for PS3 in which I first took the initiative after assuming President of SCEI in December 2006.
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.
I’m confident that the skills and expertise Andy has gained over two decades working for Sony and SCE Group will contribute enormously in leading the PlayStation business and to bring new initiatives in managing the business in the networked era.
Andrew House:
Since returning to SCE two years ago, I have focused on further expanding our business in the European/PAL territories and regaining our market leadership there.
It is both an honour and a privilege to be named as President and Group CEO at SCEI. I believe there is huge potential for further growth of our business globally, and I’m looking forward to working with everyone in the SCE Group and with other groups in Sony to help achieve this potential by pursuing the creation of brand new user experiences.
Akira Sato:
It has been a wonderful experience with PlayStation since the company’s founding in 1993.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the great support from third party game developers and publishers and particularly to the wonderful creators all over the world. Without the great content from a wide spectrum of genres made by third party game developers and publishers, as well as SCE Worldwide Studios, PlayStation would not be where it is now.
I thank everyone for their continuous help in fulfilling PlayStation’s mission to deliver high quality entertainment experiences to users around the world.
These changes might not be felt right away but these should be good moves for the company as it reshuffles its management and prepares for Stringer to step down and be replaced by either Hirai or Hiroshi Yoshioka.
