Jack Tretton Steps Down From Sony Computer Entertainment America

[Andy Chalk]

Jack Tretton Steps Down From Sony Computer Entertainment America

Jack Tretton will step down as president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America at the end of this month.

Jack Tretton, the colorful head of Sony Computer Entertainment America, has confirmed that he will leave the post as of March 31. Tretton has been with SCEA since its launch in 1995.

"Working at SCEA for the past 19 years has been the most rewarding experience of my career," he said in a statement. "Although I will deeply miss the talented team at SCEA and the passion demonstrated every day by our fans, I'm very excited about starting the next chapter of my career. I want to thank the employees, partners and customers for their tireless commitment to the PlayStation brand and, of course, to our fans who have pushed us to new heights of innovation and entertainment over the past two decades. I leave PlayStation in a position of considerable strength and the future will only get brighter for PlayStation Nation."

Sony said Tretton's departure came as the result of a mutual decision between him and SCEA. He goes out on a high note, having delivered a very effective PlayStation 4 presentation [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KhiN8LUxgY] at E3 2013; he'll be replaced at the top by current Sony Network Entertainment International Executive Vice-President and COO Shawn Layden.

Source: PR Newswire [http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jack-tretton-to-step-down-as-president-and-ceo-of-sony-computer-entertainment-america-248876781.html]


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[Redhawkmillenium]

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that Sony hasn't made like any money off of its video game division... Probably.

What's the reason, folks?

I doubt it. The past few years have been great for the PS3, and the PS4 had a great launch. Maybe he's just quitting while he's ahead?

 

[Marik2]

Shame cuz I like him and he seems like a nice guy to talk to.

 

[Andy Chalk]

It's an odd development. He killed at E3, and the PS4 seems to be off to a great start. Aside from wanting to go out on top (which I have a hard time swallowing, unless he thinks the PS4 is going to very suddenly tank) I really can't imagine why he'd quit now.

 

[omega 616]

This is something I will never understand. I have been unemployed for 4 years and I am just starting a career, the idea of leaving a well payed (I assume this dude is getting mega bucks at this position) would leave out of some misguided notion that his life is a book or that he has to find a new path.

Ok, a guy like this will probably walk into another job but why have that break? Just keep pulling in the cash! I've heard the tired old "I make much less money now but I am so much happier" thing and the saying "money can't buy happiness" but it can buy a lot of cool shit and make sure your family for generations to come will be well off!

 

[Shayman]

What a shame, he's such a nice guy! After such a successful PS4 launch, he may just want to spend time with the family? I wish he'd take up the reins over at Nintendo USA.

 

[Big_Boss_Mantis]

Damn, that was completely unexpected. He always seemed very committed to the brand, and happy with that position.
I hope Greatness Awaits him on his future projects.

I sure gonna miss him at E3.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Interesting. MS's xbox head step's down after being a jackass to go work for a company of thieving jackasses. Ninty's head takes another pay cut to apologize for another slow launch. Sony's PS head quits after their old system had 4 good years and their latest has just been proven to be the most powerful of the current 3 and their exclusive line up for the next few years looks good. What's the catch? Is he just tired of working in the games industry? Or, did his insider knowledge let him see that the current gen is limited by the little jump it made in power compared to previous generational leaps?

I'd like to know where he's going. These kinds of articles usually tell where the person is headed, and no one in his kind of position just quits; they always have a new contract worked out with another company before they quit. If it's not a game company this might not bode well for the console market. Many, including myself, have predicted an imminent crash, if minor, from the overfeatured, near PC like consoleds, excess of brown bro-shooters, and rising costs of developing games. This might(keyword: might) be a sign that the industry needs to fix many of it's problems soon.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

This is something I will never understand. I have been unemployed for 4 years and I am just starting a career, the idea of leaving a well payed (I assume this dude is getting mega bucks at this position) would leave out of some misguided notion that his life is a book or that he has to find a new path.

Ok, a guy like this will probably walk into another job but why have that break? Just keep pulling in the cash! I've heard the tired old "I make much less money now but I am so much happier" thing and the saying "money can't buy happiness" but it can buy a lot of cool shit and make sure your family for generations to come will be well off!

Because after a certain point money stops being of significant import. If you don't have debt, you have a home, a car, and enough money socked away that you don't have to worry about financial problems then there's no reason to hunt after pulling in tons of moneym This guy also probably has stock in Sony and a decent investment portfolio, he could probably retire now and just travel and play video games for the rest of his life if he wanted.

 

[vun]

So what happens to Trettonfall now?

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

He's probably got a new job that pays significantly better. Just like Don Mattrick from MS. I just hope that if I'm right its not for a job at a company like Zynga.

 

[Covarr]

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that Sony hasn't made like any money off of its video game division... Probably.

What's the reason, folks?

Uh, what? Last I heard, their game division was holding up the rest of the company.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Roxas1359]

Well at least he's leaving on a positive note unlike Don Mattrick. He could have pulled a Don by completely botching the E3 presentation as well as going to the press and saying stupid things, but he didn't so for that I say it's sad he's leaving.

It's an odd development. He killed at E3, and the PS4 seems to be off to a great start. Aside from wanting to go out on top (which I have a hard time swallowing, unless he thinks the PS4 is going to very suddenly tank) I really can't imagine why he'd quit now.

Give it a couple of days and it'll probably come out that he was offered a different job at a different company or something. Took about 2 weeks I think before everyone found out about Mattrick going to Zynga.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that Sony hasn't made like any money off of its video game division... Probably.

What's the reason, folks?

Um, Sony's been making profits off the PS3 for the last 3 1/2 years. and they made huge profits with the PS2 and PS1, and hell even the PSP (sold 80 million in it's lifetime which isn't bad for your first handheld). I think you may be confused with the Xbox Division which has been in the red since it's dawn, but doesn't really phase Microsoft because they are still loaded.

 

[WarpZone]

Ok, a guy like this will probably walk into another job but why have that break? Just keep pulling in the cash! I've heard the tired old "I make much less money now but I am so much happier" thing and the saying "money can't buy happiness" but it can buy a lot of cool shit and make sure your family for generations to come will be well off!

Sad truth is, short of starting your own space program or trying to single-handedly solve social problems by throwing money at them, there's a limit to how much a single person can *spend.* Let's assume he's already bought all the cool shit he can think of, and his family is pretty much set up for the foreseeable future. He's got investments, he's got trust funds, he's got everything he needs.

Let's assume he's done all of that, and he has money left over.

Does it really matter if he has ten million extra dollars or twenty million extra dollars? How many million extra dollars would he sacrifice for one extra year spending time with his family? How much money would he sacrifice to have new challenges to overcome and meaningful choices to make again? Keep in mind that these psychological needs are some of the reasons we play video games in the first place.

 

[Dreadman75]

Well at least he's leaving on a positive note unlike Don Mattrick. He could have pulled a Don by completely botching the E3 presentation as well as going to the press and saying stupid things, but he didn't so for that I say it's sad he's leaving.

It's an odd development. He killed at E3, and the PS4 seems to be off to a great start. Aside from wanting to go out on top (which I have a hard time swallowing, unless he thinks the PS4 is going to very suddenly tank) I really can't imagine why he'd quit now.

Give it a couple of days and it'll probably come out that he was offered a different job at a different company or something. Took about 2 weeks I think before everyone found out about Mattrick going to Zynga.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that Sony hasn't made like any money off of its video game division... Probably.

What's the reason, folks?

Um, Sony's been making profits off the PS3 for the last 3 1/2 years. and they made huge profits with the PS2 and PS1, and hell even the PSP (sold 80 million in it's lifetime which isn't bad for your first handheld). I think you may be confused with the Xbox Division which has been in the black since it's dawn, but doesn't really phase Microsoft because they are still loaded.

Uhhhhh...I think you mean "in the red." "In the Black" is primarily used when the division or item in question is making a profit.

OT: This is a shame. This guy killed at E3. And Sony is looking like the strongest of the big 3 this generation. I hope his successor is up to snuff.

 

[Roxas1359]

Uhhhhh...I think you mean "in the red." "In the Black" is primarily used when the division or item in question is making a profit.

OT: This is a shame. This guy killed at E3. And Sony is looking like the strongest of the big 3 this generation. I hope his successor is up to snuff.

Ah, you are correct. Thanks for correcting me. I'll go and edit my post now. Still, seems weird to me that being in the black is good, but oh well jargon is confusing.

 

[ShakerSilver]

I doubt it. The past few years have been great for the PS3, and the PS4 had a great launch. Maybe he's just quitting while he's ahead?

While the PS3 has finally been able to pull in a profit in recent years, it was a massive failure for more than half of its lifespan (original selling at a $300 loss). And it's not like they're not taking a hit on the less-than-successful Vita and Vita TV.
Another problem is the rather low attach rate on the PS4 (and next-gen consoles in general) right now. Not enough games being bought means it's harder to outweigh the losses taken on each unit sold. Even with PS+, if it's anything like how Microsoft described their Xbox Gold rates, I doubt more than half of the userbase will be buying PS+ just for multiplayer.

 

[Roxas1359]

Yes, sales are great but not profits. That's the issue. It's not that profitable from what I hear (and the XBox has never been, so there's that as well.)

Also, I doubt they're winning the movie battle outside of getting a residual on all Blu Rays.

PS4 is because they aren't taking much of any loss from it when compared to the PS3. In fact if each person who buys a PS4 were to buy only one game then it'd break even for Sony I believe. They are profiting off the PS4, especially with how many have sold. It's their other divisions right now that are tanking them. Their TV one especially, which is why they are spinning it off to being independent so then they can eventually just sell it off if they need to, and one of the other huge cash guzzlers for Sony was their PC division, but they sold that one off already. Sony just needs to be careful right now, but it seems the restructuring is helping them. The Playstation division is the only one that's really turning any noticeable profits for them right now, but it can't keep the company afloat forever if their other sectors do bad.

Edit: Here's an article on it. It's not that much in the end, but again it's better than how the PS3 did at launch, as the 20GB units cost $900 to make and were only sold for $499 and the 60GB units cost $1100 to make and only sold for $599...yeah Sony derped big time on that decision.