During his years as president of PlayStation, Kaz Hirai was famously memed for his role in the brand’s disastrous 2006 E3 conference, where he appeared to be taking a pretty casual approach to the task of leading the company. Far from being just a public persona, it appears this attitude was one he maintained behind the scenes, as he recently shared during an interview about his time leading Sony’s gaming division.

The interview conducted by business publication Nikkei X Trend in Japan saw Hirai interviewed alongside Toridoll CEO Takaya Awata, and centered on their management philosophies., Hirai shared anecdotes about the ways in which he drove the company based on his own knowledge of the games industry. At times during meetings with Sony executives outside of gaming, they would offer recommendations for which direction PlayStation should take as a brand. “When I was president of Sony Computer Entertainment handling PlayStation’s console business, whenever [then-Sony CEO] Howard Stringer or other executives would come in to recommend things, I’d go my own direction,” Hirai recalled. “What headquarters says isn’t important. We’re PlayStation!”

Hirai continued to follow his own instincts with the PlayStation brand throughout his time leading the division, in the end forming a strong relationship with Stringer. When Stringer stepped down in 2012, Hirai was promoted to CEO, something he says put him under a lot of pressure to steer the ship, not just for Sony’s game division as it prepared to launch the PS4, but for the entire company.

Source link