Sony has a new ‘Big ‘ol man’, the CEO and its John Kodera, aka Tsuyoshi. He has been appointed the Chief Executive Officer and President of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. recently. October 3, 2017, to be precise.
Kodera is, of course, not a new member in the Sony family. In fact, he has been with Sony for almost 15 years now, since he joined Sony Corporation in 1992 and begun his career working on Sony’s portable audio devices, specifically, in Business Planning, based in Tokyo for six years before coming to the U.S.
Following his tenure in the portable audio sector, Kodera served as Vice President, Business & Product Strategy, VAIO of America, with Sony Electronics (SEL) in the US. He joined SEL in 1998 and held a variety of positions managing portable, mobile and network products, and overseeing functions including Business Planning & Strategy and Product Planning & Marketing.
Most recently (and most relevant to Sony PlayStation) Kodera joined Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI) as senior vice president. He instituted his contributions on networking services related to the PS3, PS Vita, and PS4, namely PS Plus and PS Now. His principal goal was to offer consumers convenient access to premium games via a cloud system. His visions in the field are also responsible for making services such as the PlayStation Store and the PlayStation Now cloud gaming service a reality.
There is no two way that these online services were a turning point for Sony and Kodera’s contributions in them definitely impressed the board of directors. President Hirai spoke of the “significance of network services increasing across the entire Sony Group”, and Kodera himself suggested his interest in putting a precedent on “enhancing the PlayStation brand and expanding the game and network services business”. He mentioned striving “to further strengthen the unique value proposition we are able to offer via the PlayStation platform.”
The big question now is what the does Kodera plans for Sony’s successor console to the PS4 as it heads toward the end of its lifecycle. Will Kodera push for cloud-based streaming to be a more intricate part of the console’s design? I am also afraid that he might try to shift the focus of Sony’s games from single player to online and streaming games as a service.
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Mathew
2017 – 1992 = 25, not 15.