Jack Tretton Steps Down from SCEA

[Arach Knight]

The head of PlayStation in the U.S., Jack Tretton, has stepped down, the company announced today. His last day will be on March 31.

Shawn Layden, who is executive vice president and COO of Sony Network Entertainment International, will take Tretton's position as of April 1.

http://kotaku.com/sony-ceo-jack-tretton-steps-down-1538028448

It is an interesting development. Supposedly, the decision is mutual. I am rather shocked. Although the PS3 had quite a significant struggle to gain momentum, the platform eventually earned second place in the console wars. The Playstation 4 has rebounded the Playstation brand, leading Sony to once again be the leader of the console market.

Jack has been with Sony Computer Entertainment since the beginning (1995). That means he was part of the success of three out of four consoles launched by this company. That is one hell of an effort because to date, Nintendo has put out six platforms and only three of theirs have been a success (50%) where as 75% of Sony's consoles have been a smash hit. I can't imagine why Sony would not renew this man's contract given his obvious business acumen.

Honestly, I'd have thought Kaz Hirai would have gotten the boot if any executive at Sony were needed to step down.

 

[TX85]

Jack was cool,Why would they let go of Kaz unless he retired?

 

[Solidus]

Kaz was very instrumental in turning around the PlayStation division, after Ken left he kinda left everything in disaray in 2006. Kaz really turned it around, and the PS4 was his baby. Kaz was in charge of all of SCEI (not just America) and really turned it around.

 

[Arach Knight]

Jack was cool,Why would they let go of Kaz unless he retired?

Ever since Kaz left SCE to become President and CEO of Sony Corp, Sony has continually seen poor market performance. The man has done little to correct Sony's downward spiral.

Sony recently announced a $1.1 billion loss despite selling off their Vaio PC unit (which saw remarkably saggy performance over the past couple of years). Hirai says that selling of the television unit is still a possibility if other efforts to stop hemorrhaging cash do not prove effective. To add to that situation, Hirai already promised that the TV unit of Sony would stop losing cash this year, a pledge he fell short of honoring.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...l-loss-as-hirai-turnaround-stalls-on-tvs.html

After the above failures (which are as of last month), key investors in Sony Corp have announced their marked discontent with Kazuo Hirai's ability to lead the company out of its spiral.

http://playeressence.com/kaz-hirais...der-question-after-1-1-billion-forecast-loss/

And although Jack Tretton did amazing work with turning around the Playstation 3 and the Vita, Hirai was there at the start with the PS3, along with Kutaragi. Kutaragi was humble enough to step down after the debacle that was the PS3 launch. Hirai just sort of failed upwards and now it is more than SCE that is in jeopardy, it is the entirety of Sony Corp.

 

[Solidus]

Ya...no. Kaz was again....huge in turning the PS3 around and all of SCEI.

Actually Kaz is doing pretty good, Sony has been bleeding for years, and it does not take "one or two" years for a business that has completely restructured to turn around on a dime. For a decade Sony was failing hard. The biggest thing he has done is making the TV division separate, so that it could b easily sold. Which he should really do. The TV market was something he tried to salvage, as would anyone. The numbers their TV division brought in the past was unlike no other. I too would try to do what I could. But I think now they realize it can't be done. I think shrinking Sony and making sure it's core competences are tight will be what needs to be done. Tretton was involved with Ken as much as Kaz was with the PS3. Don't try to turn it around like it was him that saved it. Actually Jack listened to Kaz...Kaz was his boss in 2007 when he lead the turn around.

Kaz has problems ahead of him, which I think anyone would with Sony, it was a once huge giant with a 200 billion dollars market cap, and now under 20 billion. Way before he stepped in. But especially when it came to SCEI, Kaz was huge.

 

[Arach Knight]

Actually Kaz is doing pretty good, Sony has been bleeding for years, and it does not take "one or two" years for a business that has completely restructured to turn around on a dime.

Steve Jobs turned Apple around just one year after returning to Apple. Bernard Stolar turned Sega around after two years. Cut the Saturn (a market and financial loser) and launched the Dreamcast (a market leader). In fact, Sega went back to failing just a few months after firing Stolar (Stolar was fired one day before the launch of the Dremacast). So I'm not really into apologetics when a new CEO is appointed with the expectation of changing the company's direction for the better. I understand that Kazuo Hirai is not responsible for Sony's woes. However, he is also doing nothing effective to correct those woes.

 

[Solidus]

Steve Jobs turned Apple around just one year after returning to Apple. Bernard Stolar turned Sega around after two years. Cut the Saturn (a market and financial loser) and launched the Dreamcast (a market leader). In fact, Sega went back to failing just a few months after firing Stolar (Stolar was fired one day before the launch of the Dremacast). So I'm not really into apologetics when a new CEO is appointed with the expectation of changing the company's direction for the better. I understand that Kazuo Hirai is not responsible for Sony's woes. However, he is also doing nothing effective to correct those woes.

This is the problem though, things like Jobs, is rare. Even with Jack at GE back in the day, took him a while to really turn it around in the 80's. Turn arounds like Jobs Apple revival is rare, and usually not that quick. And more importantly, Forbes and others have agreed Kaz is fighting an uphill battle. The board of directors decide what changes and not a lot of the times, and culturally a lot of the older Japanese generations of Board Members do not like change, and have stuck their heads in the sand. (See Square Enix/Capcom/Sega/(a little of Nintendo). He is doing what he can, or what any CEO could do, it's not all up to him.