Kutaragi finds fame with CEA

"Father of PlayStation" joins 11 other inductees in this year's Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame; awards ceremony taking place at trade group's Industry Forum on October 21.

With consumers slow to respond to the PlayStation 3 and Sony losing ground at an alarming rate to rivals Microsoft and Nintendo, former Sony Computer Entertainment chairman and CEO Ken Kutaragi left the Japanese electronics giant under questionable circumstances in June 2007. However, since his departure, the "Father of the PlayStation" has received ample accolades from his peers, with both the Entertainment Software Association and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences honoring the PlayStation inventor since his departure.

Ken Kutaragi

Today, one more electronics-industry trade group opened its box of laurels for the former Sony exec. The Consumer Electronics Association announced Ken Kutaragi as one of a dozen other inductees to the CE Hall of Fame. The CE Hall of Fame awards will be handed out during the CEA's Industry Forum in Las Vegas on October 21.

Unsurprisingly, the CEA called out Kutaragi's contributions to the gaming industry, given that he fostered the PlayStation from its infancy in 1994 through to the PlayStation 3's launch in 2006. Joining Kutaragi in the inventor class of this year's awards are Dr. Fritz Sennheiser, founder of Sennheiser Electronic Corp. and trailblazer in microphone and headphone technology, and Motorola's Martin Cooper and Donald Linder, who developed the first practical mobile phone in 1973.

As the organizer of the Consumer Electronics Show, the CEA has been honoring noteworthy inventors, engineers, business leaders, and journalists since 2000, thus far having inducted more than 100 individuals or organizations, including tech-infancy inventors Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, audiophile Dr. Amar Bose, and Apple cofounder Steven Wozniak.

41 Comments

  • Spyder25000

    Posted Apr 4, 2008 4:11 am PT

    your sony playstation has giveen me hours of fun with m8s
    a world without playsation is unthinkable!

  • kkkkknaruto

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 1:40 pm PT

    hmmm...a world without playstation.....can't even imagine it....kuturagi san u savd me so much money from paying microsoft to ply online TY!

  • majidok

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 12:38 pm PT

    Thank you Kutaragi san , For all the great moments , thank you .

  • morgonstjarnan

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 2:00 am PT

    @teknicz
    A collective genius is a contradiction in terms. When was the last time you read an amazing book written by 20 people? Or a movie written and directed by 20 people? Or a song written by 20 people? Never.

    Yeah, there's a company there to back him up, a company that he helped make a hell of a lot bigger. But the vision and drive was all his. Deal with it.

  • Philosoma

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 1:12 am PT

    Congrats to a truly great contributor in gaming.

  • KhanhAgE

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:44 pm PT

    Who doesn't love the Playstation?

    Oh, right. Those people...

  • IIBlackknightII

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:36 pm PT

    Congratualations!.After creating the ps series,he truly deserves the award.

  • Viral-venom13

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:21 pm PT

    Congratualations and great thanks is extended for aiding in providing quality forms of entertainment to the public!!

  • YunalescaFFX

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:05 pm PT

    Congratz! I agree he deserves it. He bought PS1, PS2 and even PS3 was not such a bad deal. In addition, not only did he bring entertainment but also competition in the gaming console arena! I thank him for that.

  • teknicz posted Apr 2, 2008 11:01 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    teknicz

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:01 pm PT (hide)

    Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't personally make anything. He's receiving an award for leading a company during a certain time period. A company, by the way, that had plenty of money to back him up.

    You guys make it sound like he invented, built, marketed, and catered the Playstation. Geez. Ever heard of employees? He's getting an award for leading them and the company, not their efforts and collective genius.

  • lew_0911

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:01 pm PT

    Good for him. He really deserves the respect from his nice track record (yes, even with the rocky start of PS3).

  • EddyG0RD0

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:42 pm PT

    Thx Kutaragi , playstation ownz.

  • FULGOREY2K

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:34 pm PT

    thank you ken kutaragi FOR BRINGING VIDEO GAMES INTO THE MAINSTREAM POP CULTURE.
    they wouldnt had taken off without your genius invention, the PLAYSTATION. kudos

  • GDCalibur

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:56 pm PT

    Congrats Ken Kutaragi. You made the Playstation what is today. To all us Sony fans thats a great thing.

  • Montrealien

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:27 pm PT

    Thanks Ken, from bringing us the Media hub portal home computer movie playing internet surfing music playing and sometimes gaming machines that are the playstations, we love you, you crazy crazy man you.

  • boxo

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:01 pm PT

    I have alot of respect for this man a true pioneer in the gaming induestry. He had a dream back then that seemed nearly impossible and he has acheived so much since then. Heres to you Ken Kutaragi the father of playstation.

  • theGrynch posted Apr 2, 2008 8:01 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    theGrynch

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:01 pm PT (hide)

    He launched two of the most successful ever, and ruined the 3rd in the series. Not sure how I should feel.

  • Great_Ragnarok posted Apr 2, 2008 7:50 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Great_Ragnarok

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:50 pm PT (hide)

    ??????? are u kidding me? :O

  • Boo_looDODO

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:46 pm PT

    We owe you one!

  • re4leonkennedy

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:38 pm PT

    Thanks for the hard work.

  • Tokyo90

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:29 pm PT

    Congratulations Ken Kutaragi , thanks for bringing PlayStation into the gaming industry.

  • JediKnight66

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:26 pm PT

    congrats to you Kutaragi. You really deserve it!!!! ^^

  • cornholio6966

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:26 pm PT

    Even as somewhat of a 360 fanboy, I have to give it up to the guy. The PS1 was great and the PS2 was arguably the greatest. I also think that it required a great amount of foresight or some huge quantity of balls to make the gamble of the Blu-Ray in the PS3, which now it seems is paying off. Congrats Ken, you truly deserve it, and will go down with Miyamoto as one of the absolute pioneers of gaming.

  • rockstar_88 posted Apr 2, 2008 7:25 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    rockstar_88

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:25 pm PT (hide)

    I'm not exactly a fan of Ken Kutaragi (in fact, I don't like him period), especially since he's grown enemies in the industry beyond just Microsoft and Nintendo, but I suppose everyone that births a console should be given credit for their work. Shigeru Miyamoto and Bill Gates did, why not him? Well, that just leaves out the Sega guy, whom has never been mentioned.

  • jmdude

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:03 pm PT

    Congratulations Ken Kutaragi. Thanks for bringing to us gamers the PS family.

  • lilmp89

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:02 pm PT

    Congratulations Mr. Kutaragi =)

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 6:59 pm PT

    Go Kutaragi!!!

  • ctg867

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 5:52 pm PT

    Wow, he definitely deserves it. Here's to you Ken, my very first home video game console was my Playstation 1, Crash and Spyro got me into console gaming, and without them I don't know if I ever would of got into gaming. And without the PS1, they might not ever of happened. Cheers mate.

  • Icehearted

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 5:27 pm PT

    The Playstation 2 is the greatest console of all time (SNES is my #2 on the list). It had everything, a DVD player, a gigantic PSone library, and great games for it's time as well as now. So it's not as though I'm against the guy or what he accomplished.

    I'm not trying to pick a fight either, that's just not my thing. I only hate to see someone that stepped on his customers and colleagues receive blind praise from the very people that paid for his mistakes. I didn't make these things up, Gamespot reported a lot of them, and I listened to what they and Kutaragi had to say about it. No hostility intended.

  • fntsycloud

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 5:23 pm PT

    While there was no question some faltering on Sony's behalf, no proof exists it was Kutaragi's fault. No matter what anyone says, he deserves the respect of all gamers. He has my respect and my contrats for this.

  • belwyrm

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 5:07 pm PT

    Oh - I was just curious because I've owned 6 or 7 PS2's and never had a hardware problem.

    And regardless of Kutaragi's attitude, or his not so excellent marketing and third party support design of the PS3, the Ps1 and PS2 (to me) were two of the greatest consoles, and the PS2 is still a high seller, even with the onset of the new consoles. So I'll say congratulations Kutaragi.

  • decoy1978

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 5:01 pm PT

    Are we to only remember his faults at the end? This man ushered in the next era of gaming through PSX and PS2. Without him, I doubt we'd see enough competition to even see the dawn of the Wii or 360. His career ended in a bad note, but don't forget all the accomplishments he had as well.

  • Icehearted posted Apr 2, 2008 5:01 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Icehearted

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 5:01 pm PT (hide)

    Disc Read Error. I had to replace the system the first time because I didn't want to tamper with it personally, by the second one I repaired it myself.

    Edit: Really? You're giving me a thumbs down for having a DRE?

  • belwyrm

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 4:58 pm PT

    icehearted -

    What hardware failures are you referring to on the PS2?

  • Icehearted posted Apr 2, 2008 4:55 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Icehearted

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 4:55 pm PT (hide)

    I totally acknowledge that he did very well way way back at the beginning, but by the end he seemed like he'd lost his mind and you, the fans and fanboys alike, have paid for it (I own the PS2 and the PSP so I know all bout hardware failures). I'm unsurprised, by the way, that even established facts that are not my own (some reported on Gamespot) get thumbs down here.

  • sil_musashi

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 4:39 pm PT

    He deserves it

  • PSdual_wielder

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 4:35 pm PT

    Well even if he had a bad run in the end, you can't kill off his credits for being the maker of the top video game line ever in history. I think he totally deserves it.

  • Icehearted posted Apr 2, 2008 4:25 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Icehearted

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 4:25 pm PT (hide)

    Deserves it? This is a man that said acknowledged design flaws in the PSP (square button) were everyone else's problem, that the $600 price of the Playstation 3 was too cheap, and that if people wanted it they'd just have to work harder earn more money to spend on it. He wasn't exactly liked among his colleagues, having been referred to as a 'renegade' and a 'stumbling block'. His bad planning an arrogance ($600 dollars is not cheap and people will not get a second job just to pay that much no matter how great he thinks it is) cost Sony around $1.7 Billion in losses.

    I respectfully disagree. He started out pretty well, but it seemed an awful lot of people were happy to see him go.

  • Tremblay343

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 3:56 pm PT

    Definitely deserves it

    Oh, and first lol

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