Andrew House, Chief Marketing Officer and Group Executive of Sony Corporation, has been named President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Chief Operating Officer (Co-COO) of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) as of May 1, 2009.
In his new role, House will be responsible for managing the PlayStation business across nearly 100 countries including Australia. He will have responsibility for PlayStation 2 and 3, PSP as well as the Playstation Network. (See seperate story on appointment).
The move comes as the US media start to raise questions about the long term viability of Sony's Playstation 3 following the release of new figures over the weekend that show that the Blu ray gaming console is slipping even further behind as both Nintendo with their highly popular Wii and Microsoft with a discounted Xbox 360 take share away from Sony.
Leading US technology magazine PC World asked the question is the Playstation 3 doomed? They also said "the situation has never been more dire for Sony's premiere gaming console".
Industry sales in March plunged 17 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to data released this week from NPD Group, a market research firm. The downturn marked a big reversal from recent months, when the industry posted healthy growth despite the deteriorating economy. The March sales decline was steep enough to cancel out the growth the industry posted in the first two months of the year.
The results are as follows:
