One Word from the Mouth of SCE President Kutaragi Sends Shock Waves

   Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) announced on Sept. 6 that it would postpone the marketing of the PS3 (PlayStation3) in Europe until early March of 2007 because of “shortage of parts.” It was the second time that the postponement of marketing in Europe has been announced. Ken Kutaragi, President and CEO of SCE, which relies on Sony Corp. for the production of the PS3, said at a press conference, “I think that (Sony’s inability to mass-produce the parts) means that there is something lacking in the capability…” Because of his remark, some mass media reported that, “Discord began to emerge within the Sony group.”

   It may be taken as his seething dissatisfaction toward the parent company Sony that Kutaragi uttered critical words against Sony at the SCE main office. According to the Sept. 7 morning edition of the economic daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the gist of what he said was as follows:

“Something Must Be Lacking in Sony’s Capability”

One Word from the Mouth of SCE Pres. Kutaragi Sends Shock Waves

“SCE worked out the delivery plan because we heard (Sony was able to do the mass production of the parts). But I think that (its inability) means that there is something lacking in the capability…”

“If someone asked, ‘isn’t Sony’s ability to make things declining?’ I would have only to answer ‘yes’ at this moment.”

   Kutaragi is the one who founded SCE from almost nothing and brought it up to one of the pillar business in the Sony group. Because of the contribution he made to the group, he was promoted to the vice-presidency of the parent company Sony. But he bowed out from the position because of the reshuffle of the management in April 2005. He staked his business success on the PS3. But the start of the sales originally scheduled for the spring of this year was postponed until November 11 because of a delay mainly in the settling of the standard for the Blu-ray Disc (BD). The number of units that PS3 planned for the first-round domestic shipments was reduced from 1 million to only 100,000. Furthermore, SCE was obliged to apologize for the re-postponement of the marketing in Europe this time, which was caused by the delay in the mass-production of the blue laser diode. It is understandable if the anger that simmered from the disappointment against the background of all this was pointed to the parent company Sony.

Meaning of Remarks Twisted in Nikkei Report: Explains SCE

   A person in charge of the public relations at SCE was, however, apparently embarrassed by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun’s reporting. Inquired by J-CAST, he argued:

“It was true Kutaragi made the remarks like that. But what he meant by them must have been understood from what was said by him in its entirety. The true meaning of the remarks were not conveyed (in the report).”

   He said the key word in a single sentence was correct. But they were wrongly interpreted from the context, he added. He said what Kutaragi meant was twisted in Nihon Keizai Shumbun's report.

   During the press conference given by Kutaragi, many questions were put to him in connection with the incident about the faulty laptop batteries. Thus, the person in charge of public relations indicated, Kutaragi would be subjected to criticisms for not reflecting on the incident unless he made the remarks that included such words as “capability” and “for making things.” He insisted what he said was proved right by the fact that any other newspaper did not carry articles like the one published by Nikkei.

   The selling of the PS3 will start in Europe in March of 2007, but there is no delay in the start of sales in Japan and North America. The public relations section of SCE says that the sales will catch up as soon as the production gets on the ball. “We’d like to regain our customers’ trust by achieving the shipment target of 6 million units for fiscal 2006,” it said.