Sony Computer Entertainment announced today that chairman Shigeo Maruyama, one of the founding fathers of the PlayStation group, will retire from his position effective immediately. Tamotsu Iba, SCE director and board member over at Sony's main headquarters, will replace him as chairman. CEO Ken Kutaragi will stay on in his current position.
Maruyama's career with Sony began in 1968, when he joined Japanese music label CBS Sony Records. He worked with Kutaragi starting in 1991 on Sony's first experiment with video game systems, a 32-bit CD-ROM add-on for the Super NES, and headed up PlayStation system development after the Nintendo deal fell through two years later.
The apparently amicable retirement is part of SCE's worldwide corporate shuffling that's taking place today. Sony announced that Andrew House and Jack Tretton will become the new executive vice presidents of SCE America, with Shuhei Yoshida keeping up his duties as head of first-party development. Jim Bass will be SCEA's new chief financial officer, and 15-year Sony veteran Masayuki Chatani will come on as senior vice president of the company's new Broadband Strategy Group.
