Rumor: Chief Technical Officer Izumi Kawanishi moves out of SCE

Izumi Kawanishi, Sony Computer Entertainment’s Chief Technical Officer, has moved out of the division and has settled into the mothership Sony Corporation. This is according to one of Kotaku’s sources who explains that he and Kazuo Hirai had an internal dispute.

The source continues that the fight was Hirai wanting to push the PlayStation 3 only as a game console. Perhaps Kawanishi still wanted to push the console as an all-in-one media hub?

Izumi Kawanishi, Sony Computer Entertainment’s Chief Technical Officer, has moved out of the division and has settled into the mothership Sony Corporation. This is according to one of Kotaku’s sources who explains that he and Kazuo Hirai had an internal dispute.

The source continues that the fight was over Hirai wanting to push the PlayStation 3 only as a game console. Perhaps Kawanishi still wanted to push the console as an all-in-one media hub? Kawanishi was integral in the hardware development for the PS2, PS3 and the PSP so he would feel strongly about it. Still, Kaz may be on the right track seeing as only 13% of PS3 owners use their consoles to play movies (apparently).

Kawanishi was also the head of SCEI‘s Network System Development Section and R&D division. He was also involved with the development of the original PlayStation, where he worked closely with Ken Kutaragi.

Via Kotaku