PlayStation’s Father Ken Kutaragi “Really Pleased” with PS4; Might Collaborate with Sony Again Soon

Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House talked earlier this week at a keynote at Develop Conference in Brighton, UK, and he explained that the bridges with the original PlayStation’s creator Ken Kutaragi definitely haven’t been cut.

[kingtroy]

http://media.psu.com/media/...

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Well the PS4 is doing fine maybe they could use him for PSNOW and get those old PS1 and PS2 titles on the service build up the catalogue.

[bouzebbal]

would be great to see him back! he is a living legend!

[ikkokucrisis]

Crazy Ken may have created the PS1, but if he's going to be like George Lucas was with Star Wars... I'm fine with the changing of the guard! Cerney has made brilliant hardware choices with the PS4 and Yoshida is one of the coolest guys in the gaming industry.

[UltimateMaster]

PlayStation under Ken was when Sony was in it's prime. He's amazing.

[bouzebbal]

To DualSockers: where does he say that he might collaborate with sony again?
your titles are just click baits you guys have no shame.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Ken kutaragi+Cerny for PS5= Over 9000!
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[MrSwankSinatra]

HELL YES!!! the father of PlayStation.

[johndoe11211]

"Might Collaborate with Sony Again Soon"

HELL NOOO!!!!! I hope not.

[XiNarutoUzumaki]

Why not?

[MrSwankSinatra]

Hey that's your opinion, but ken kutaragi headed two of my favorite consoles ever in the PS1 & PS2 and if he can bring his expertise over to the PS4 that is a win imho.

[chikane]

@johndoe11211

Yea the guy for the reason why the PlayStation brand exists today.

don't let him any where near a PlayStation system again. wow some people

I say give him another chance.

For you misguided soul
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[D3ATH_DRIV3R_777]

Disagree!

OT: come on back home mr.kutaragi!

Hype level:20,000!!!!!

[johndoe11211]

@XiNarutoUzumaki, MrSwankSinatra, chikane, D3ATH_DRIV3R_777 and everyone else who is disagreeing with me.

Either you guys do not know your gaming history or you do not understand the concept of progression.

There comes a time when people must realize that everything, sooner or later, expires its usefulness. Not because ken kutaragi is the father of playstation and he gave the world the biggest selling console of all times means he is above reproach.

I'm not gonna go into details here because it is too much to write but the info is on the internet. i advise you all look it up. Even though he was responsible for the grwoth of the playstation, he was also responsible for the almost total destruction of it.

Even though the ps2 is the biggest selling system of all time and has the biggest library, it was also a pain in the ass to develop for and that frustrated devs. He took that same mentality with the ps3 and made it deliberately difficult to develop for, why? Because his thought process was that it would force devs to only focus on that system and make them spend all their resources developing for it and ignoring other systems.

The outcome of that was that the ps3 lost billions in due to high development costs and devs started to ignore it. Some devs never developed for the ps3.

Mark Cerny gave a keynote where he said that he wanted to make the ps3 easy to develop for but ken didn't want to hear of it. Why do you think he didn't want to hear? I'll tell you why, because his head was too big and inflated and he had an ego to match.

Up to today the disaster that was the ps3 is still plaguing sony financially. Ken kutaragi had his time and it is time for him to move on. His thought process is outdated and even though it worked at one point, times have changed, the gaming industry has changed and we need new people with fresh ideas who understand the industry.

Blind loyalty is foolish loyalty. I appreciate what he did and I thank him, but I really don't want him anywhere near the console beast that is the ps4.

[extermin8or]

Well everyone makes mistakes and his mistake wasnt quite the mess people believe the console lasted 8 years and although showed its age in the last year or so prior to that did very well considering. What he was trying todo with the CELL etc was a neat idea but it just never took iff not exactly the way he planned anyway, althougb in many ways its exactly the way tech has developed. Also that crap about low ram and difficulty to dev for on purpose. Well the low ram thing to force optimistation kinda had a point yet also has negative effects and I suspect he didnt have a choice due to costs etc but really didnt want to admit such things so said the crap about it be I ng intentional lol

[johndoe11211]

@extermin8or

Sorry but you are flat out wrong. There is documented proof of everything I stated in my post, you are just going on a personal opinion. I never stated anything about low ram issues, and it has been stated by numerous people including mark cerny himself that it was done deliberately to force devs to focus on them.

Low ram has nothing to do with it. Even though the system had low ram we still got games like uncharted, killzone, last of us and many more. Could you imagine what we would have gotten with that same low ram but an easy to develop for system?

[brightlight]

He is also the reason why the PS3 got a rocky start with a high price and complicated system to develop on, so he may be the father of Playstation and a genius but he messed up on the PS3.

[InTheLab]

A lot of disagrees there.

"The father of PS" sounds all good and fine but the man was a tirant and was responsible for the mess that was 2006 PS3. It was do it my way and sell millions on PS or go off to die with MS and Nintendo and we all know how that turned out. Devs went right over to Xbox.

Do some research before you blindly cheer on an old Sony guy because he was a blight on the whole industry.

[FamilyGuy]

"Collaborate" does not mean that he would get any final say on what happens with the PS4. You can relax.

For the record, I LOVED the PS3 ever since DAY 1. It being hard to develop for and having split RAM were its only flaws. It launched as a multimedia playing video game console that was constantly updated with new features over time. Some things even got taken away because its usefulness went so far beyond gaming that a bunch of consoles were being purchased for those other reasons alone (the other OS option, blu-ray player).

Blu-ray player, blue-tooth controllers, six-axis, pressure sensitive button, supported 7 or 8 controllers/ blu-tooth devices at once, use any blu-tooth headset for in-game chat, PS Eye, Printer support, high quality audio support, media sever support from the start, internet browser that let you download and save files directly to the systems HDD, HDD in every model, the first models had backward compatibility, 4 usb slots and card readers.
Audio player with visualizers, Photo viewer with slide shows, digital video player with lots of supported formats.

The PS3 was and still is a beast, you really shouldn't talk crap just because he was arrogant about something that he deserved to be proud of.

You say, "imagine if it had been easy to develop for", I personally think more RAM & unified RAM would've made the cell and overall system setup a lot less of a burden and was a bigger issue.

[DragonKnight]

@johndoe: The funny thing about your hate for the man is that the man was still a genius who turned out to be completely right in his decisions in the end.

You said it yourself, the PS2 was the best selling console, with the biggest library of all time. This is despite it being "the most difficult platform to develop for."

Then look at the PS3. Same deal, turned out to have the best games of the previous generation, consistently outsold the Xbox 360 eventually overtaking it, all while being the most difficult platform to develop for.

There is this attitude that creating a system that's difficult to develop for is somehow the worst possible thing to do, yet when has that ever failed Sony? If anything, Ken ensured that his Playstation consoles would survive a long time without becoming technologically irrelevant and obsolete quickly.

Plus, with how many corners developers cut already, trying any way they can find to take the easiest development route possible, I say it's a good thing to make them do some actual work.

Ken may have been terrible in terms of how he ran Sony, but he wasn't wrong when it came to the consoles. His vision ensured that Playstation always remained relevant, and it's because of him that the brand is as big as it is today.

[johndoe11211]

@DragonKnight

At what point did I say I hated the man. NOWHERE did I say I hated the man or even not like him. I said I respected him for what he did for the playstation but I also know he almost destroyed it as well. The man was arrogant and his arrogance almost destroyed the ps brand. He had his time and now it's time for him to move on.

Something very very disturbing is happening here. It's as if it's taboo to acknowledge someones faults just because they have done good. I'm being disagreed with even though everything I am stating is fact.

People are putting words in my mouth and reading things I never wrote. why? because they want to believe what they want to believe. Regardless of how you try to justify it the playstation 3 almost destroyed the ps department of sony. Sony ran that department at a loss for years and it almost destroyed it. He made decisions that were bad, plain and simple.

Yes he got some things right but it is utterly foolish to ignore he got some things wrong, VERY VERY WRONG. But whatever. People will see what they want to see. You can read into my comment however you want to.

[DragonKnight]

@johndoe11211: You don't have to actually hate someone to HAVE hate for them. All it requires is the consistent negativity you spewed forth about the man.

"Something very very disturbing is happening here. It's as if it's taboo to acknowledge someones faults just because they have done good. I'm being disagreed with even though everything I am stating is fact."

Nope, not taboo, it's just that you're talking B.S.

"playstation 3 almost destroyed the ps department of sony."

I assume you have actual proof of this and not kotaku articles with no actual information and instead just hyperbolic "the PS3 is too expensive and hard to develop for" non-information right?

I mean, it's not like the PS3 outsold it's competition every year since launch... except it did. It's not like the PS3 consistently had the best games... except it did. It's not like the PS3 had the most impressive first party titles of the generation... except it did.

So where is this information that the PS3 "nearly destroyed the PS brand" hmmm? You do understand that destroying a brand takes more than posting some losses right?

"Sony ran that department at a loss for years and it almost destroyed it. He made decisions that were bad, plain and simple."

Nintendo is the only company of the Big 3 that doesn't operate at a loss. Sony ran all PS consoles at a loss. They made their money back through games and the PS3 is no different. And no, he didn't. Again, best games, most impressive first party titles, continued support, outsold direct competition and surpassed them despite competitions many advantages. Where is the bad?

"Yes he got some things right but it is utterly foolish to ignore he got some things wrong, VERY VERY WRONG."

LIKE WHAT?!

Price? People didn't give a damn because the console always outsold it's MUCH cheaper competition.

Difficult to develop for? So was the PS2, and guess what both consoles have in common? They still got a f*ckton of games. Good games. And games like God of War 3, the entire Uncharted franchise, and The Last of Us say hello. You think that that development difficulty didn't extend to first party studios? It did, and look what they did with the PS3.

So what. What the hell did he get wrong when the PS3 is the monumental success that it is? The PS3 is on track to match the sales of the PS1, how is any of that bad hmmm?

You've got nothing but stupid quotes and an attitude about the price that's akin to being butthurt.

What the guy said is completely irrelevant, and how he ran Sony as a company is also irrelevant to how well the PS3 did and is continuing to do. And who do you think is responsible for that? It's not Mark Cerny, it's not Shuhei Yoshida, it's Ken Kutaragi. He designed the console, and some of the best games ever made are on that console. So this B.S. about development difficulty seems to have not mattered at all.

The PS4 is easier to develop for than the PS3 and in the first year look what we have to show for it. Where's the excuse for the paltry offerings available on the PS4? Exactly, there is none. Developers work hard at being lazy.

[Prime157]

Thank you, John. I agree. Xbox is now going through similar pains and we give that brand a lot of s### for similarities that Ken kutaragi brought.

Whenever someone mentions Sony's arrogance you get Ken. Ken, who left at the beginning of ps3 after being misinterpreted yet still wrong, wanted people to think they earned the ps3. Who constantly spun the PlayStation brand into something greater than it actually contributed... that stuff worked.

I thank Ken for many, MANY PlayStation movements and ideas, but not acknowledging his flaws is the same as supporting #dealwithit.

Edit: early ps3 (under Ken) was misguided... yes, ps3 made a comeback for many reasons, but if you think it was nearly as big as ps2 then you're just wrong... I love my ps3, but ps2 did much better in a year or so left as a "main generation."

[Meep]

@DragonKnight

"The PS4 is easier to develop for than the PS3 and in the first year look what we have to show for it."
Yea, because the PS3 launch was so good right? (it was shit)

"Plus, with how many corners developers cut already, trying any way they can find to take the easiest development route possible, I say it's a good thing to make them do some actual work."
WOW, wtf?

"Developers work hard at being lazy."
WOOOOOOOOOOW, I don't even

[DragonKnight]

@Meep: "Yea, because the PS3 launch was so good right? (it was shit)"

You just reinforced my point. The PS3 was harder to develop for so you'd expect it to have a weak launch in terms of games. You can't use the same excuse for the PS4, so what's your explanation hmm?

"WOW, wtf?"

Because you've never seen games where it was clear the developers phoned it in right?

"WOOOOOOOOOOW, I don't even"

Once again, because you've never seen games where it was clear the developers phoned it in right?

[Meep]

@DragonKnight
"You just reinforced my point. The PS3 was harder to develop for so you'd expect it to have a weak launch in terms of games. You can't use the same excuse for the PS4, so what's your explanation hmm?"

Do you not remember how bad the PS3 launch window was? Safe to say with all the ports, and free-to-play games on PS4, it is doing better game-wise than the PS3....WAY better.

"Because you've never seen games where it was clear the developers phoned it in right?"

Yeah totally, so lets call all developers lazy right? SURE, WHY NOT. Lets call developers lazy. Way to generalize. Programming is all about using your knowledge(of coding) to get the most efficient/better product out. That's way optimization exist.

[Decastis]

The return of the King! :)

[user7402931]

welcome back welcome back welcome back

[Sokol]

Imagine this, Ken Kutaragi and Mark Cerny together, collaborating on creating PlayStation 5 :)

[GamersHeaven]

http://media.giphy.com/medi...

[AnteCash]

http://i.imgur.com/rXSywJh....

[InTheLab]

I gotta ask and sorry if it comes off the wrong way but how old are you and where were you in 2001? Ken is not a team player and he proved that during the pS2 era and part of the Ps3.

I get a lot of you just remember the name and the success but the guy was a bastard.

Ken coming back to PS is not a good thing. He is the exact opposite of Cerny. Cerny created a console for every dev to easily create content for. Ken created a console that forced devs to develop games on that system and if they were a smaller developer, they didn't have the resources to port those games to Xbox or Gamecube. He made things harder for no reason other than stone walling the competition and I'd like to think that Playstation is beyond that pettiness now with Cerny.

[johndoe11211]

Thank you. Great post. I appreciate what he did in making the ps a household name but his time is up. His mentality is not in the best interest of the gaming industry and not because I am a sony fan means I will support bad decisions or anyone from sony who is not seeking the interest of the gaming public.

[DragonKnight]

Again, when has Ken's ideas ever failed Sony? It sounds like the two of you have bleeding hearts for the plight of developers, yet PS1, PS2, and PS3 were all immensely successful and guess who was the instrumental force behind all 3?

[johndoe11211]

Just so you know, Ken Kutaragi and Mark Cerny did collaborate on the ps3. Mark Cerney wanted to make it easy to develop for. He told ken about having a low "time to triangle", a term he invented. Basically that meant a very short time to create games. Ken told him he didn't want to hear anything about triangles and thus the ps3 was born. The ps3, the system that almost destroyed the playstation brand. You sit and think about that for a moment.

[360ICE]

It did sell 80 million and was mouth-watering awesome at launch. It also kept up with graphics evolution for some time and brought some of the best games of the last years to market. Hard to hate it too much. But yeah, I do see your point.

[DragonKnight]

"The ps3, the system that almost destroyed the playstation brand."

You're greatly exaggerating. IF we could even agree on any part of that statement, it would only exist if you spoke about the price of the console at launch. Even then that didn't matter.

As the PS3 launched, it sold more than it's "easier to develop for" competition in the Xbox 360 every single year world wide. Clearly the demand for the PS3 was barely hindered by the price.

In terms of games, the PS3 has the best of them. So how did the PS3 almost destroy the playstation brand again?

Oh yeah, it didn't.

[snookiegamer]

@DragonKnight

Seriously, people like you, like to think you're somehow smarter or more intelligent. But you fail telling people what they feel in their comments, putting words in their mouths and then arguing senselessly to maintain your ill thought judgement of others.

[snookiegamer]

Keep Mark Cerny!

[Tales RPG addict]

Holy Shite man that'd be awesome

[Sm00thNinja]

I think people forget the age of arrogance he brought.... This guy needs to stay outside and keep looking In the Playstation brand is in good hands

[johndoe11211]

I said the same thing above and I'm getting disagreed down to oblivion LOL. The playstation brand is actually getting back to its glory days BECAUSE he is no longer at the helm. After all the good don mattrick did for the xbox and the xbox brand, would anyone want to hear that he is coming back to work with them again? Hell no. I really don't understand people's thought processes.

[Sm00thNinja]

People here at N4G are just blinded by anything Playstation. To say the father of playstation ushered a dark period in Playstation history would be a blight to the religion. The Playstation brand is on a high right now, but he did bring forth some big advancements and took some big risk with the brand that panned out I.e. BluRay so his input does hold some value. As long as he takes a mentor standpoint he could push the PS4 in an even better direction. If the man was anything he was a crazy gutsy arrogant idiotic innovator...

[InTheLab]

I think the problem is a lot of these people here are teens and just see Playstation. You sound like you were around back then or at least old enough to read a Gamepro or GI and know what Ken was about.

I see the comments above and just laugh. Ken and Mark Cerny would make a great team? What? Lmao.

People here bash the Xbox parity clause but where do you think they got that from? Who made a console insanely difficult to dev on just so devs couldn't afford to port, thus all the PS2 exclusives?

You tell them that and they disagree cuz Playstation RULEZ!

[DragonKnight]

I'm an adult that's probably older than most of you, I see Playstation very clearly and all of you are hung up on quotes that don't matter.

Look at what the PS3 is. Best games, best graphics, overtook the 360, consistently sold more than the 360 globally every year since launch. These are things you're flat out ignoring so that you can focus on some quotes and the price at launch. A price, I might add, that was completely ignored based on the demand and the value for the console.

With everything taken out of the PS3, launch 60GB Phat PS3's are the most valuable version out there. People are willing even to buy broken ones to be fixed because of everything it has. You're trying to say that that isn't a clear indication that the man was right? It's because of him that the PS3 was able to remain relevant for the future. Look at the Xbox 360 and its support these days. Frickin' pitiful.

Such limited vision you haters have.

[snookiegamer]

@johndoe11211 (Regarding DragonKnight)

DragonKnight contradicts himself. Spouting that he's older than most of us....So what? Maybe he's a Dinosaur, who cares?? Maybe his self appointed infinite wisdom blinds him??? Maybe he's jealous that you have more bubbles, in spite of his years of life experience! LOL.

DragonAge is older, and definitely more immature too. People who do not agree or see his point, he'll dismiss them as 'Haters'. I can see his many failed attempts at stalking you.

He probably loves reading his own comments over & over. If he finds it difficult at his age to make his points without riding on someone elses back and trying to court agrees..then don't make comments oldboy!

[jcnba28]

Exactly. I don't know why people are praising him since he almost drove the playstation brand to the ground with the PS3. Sony are still paying for those mistakes today.

[Back-to-Back]

Jokes on you

He has remained at Sony as senior technology advisor.

[Sm00thNinja]

Pretty sure he works at Cyber Al Entertainment now too. Bottom line is he's no longer a CEO At Sony which is for the best

[Inception]

Ken Kutaragi, the coolest and handsome man in the world!
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[EverydayGuy]

Dude a genius when it comes to engineering, just don't let him be a CEO again. As long as the system stays Developer friendly then we have nothing to worry about.

[InTheLab]

Ken Kutaragi and developer friendly never happened.

[EverydayGuy]

That is where Mark Cerny comes in.

[TheEternalGamer]

Please comeback father. We miss you here at PlayStation. Mommy been paying dem bills and workin' her butt off trying to make sure we are happy and we survive daddy. Please come here daddy. Our crack momma is paying dem bills with 2 jobs thats no way for a woman to live :,(

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I know he is well loved but I think Playstation has done much better with out him vs with him as we moved into the HD era. He was the many behind the PS3 which by all accounts was a nightmare to develop for with poor tool support and based on cell architecture which is basically dead tech now. Cerny came in and turned the PS4 into a developer friendly box that is still a powerful machine and uses an architecture moving forward can and will be supported. I am not sure Playstation needs crazy Ken anymore.

[Sm00thNinja]

“The PS3 will instill discipline in our children and adults alike. Everyone will know discipline.”
- Ken Kuturagi. Nuff said

[stripe814]

the more the better, two brains is better than one..

[RandomDude655]

Cerny for API and memory.
Kutaragi for secondary chips, like sound and ray tracing unit.
WIN-WIN

[RandomDude655]

*apu

[Goku781]

Kool, bring in jack too!

[SH1ELD]

PS5 will be the next PS3 confirmed.

[Whitey2k]

let ken show it let cerny build it

[Haki1112]

But the article says nothing about him collaborating with sony in the future...

[Maxor]

This guy is a has been. Just because you helped shaped the brand doesn't mean you have what it takes to mold the Playstation brand into the nextgen. Cerny's vision of the PS4 proved that new blood is required.