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Forums - Sales Discussion - Sony UK sales boss quits before impending PS3 launch

superchunk on 14 February 2007

Wii_gamer said: Man overboard! MCV reports that Kevin Jowett, head of sales for Sony UK, has resigned in order to pursue a career outside of the games industry. With the March 23 Euro PS3 launch just over five weeks away, his timing has likely caused quite a stir, with MCV commenting that the move may briefly disrupt negotiations between Sony and UK retailers
I bet his real motive was not being fired like crazy ken in the states. The PS3 will have another disappointing launch and wham!! out he goes. So, he secured a new job while his resume still looked impressive. I bet the sell 800,000 of the initial 1m in March. That's it.



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Kwaad on 14 February 2007

This is not good news in any way for sony. However there is the chance that he was pushed out the door, putting someone new in, who would possibly do sony more justice. Head of sales... isnt that the person who sets the prices and such? By kicking him out... could that mean the PS3 gets a price drop in europe?



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Kwaad on 14 February 2007

MCV understands that Jowett has resigned to pursue new opportunities outside of the games industry and has left the company immediately, due to confidentiality issues.
That's the meat of the article. Wonder what NDA he broke.



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shams on 14 February 2007

I think that means "he left immediately - for confidentiality issues", rather than "he was fired/left for confidentiality issues, and left immediately". Its common to see employees that leave a big company, leave immediately (rather than hanging around the normal 4 weeks or so). I wonder if he has a great big non-competitive clause on him (guess its less of an issue for sales, rather than dev people).



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Kwaad on 14 February 2007

My point is. I've been thinking. He's the one that says how much the PS3 costs. Sony might have jumped him for setting the price so high. And was going to 'demote' him. And he quit, so he wouldnt have demotion on him. (the high european price is the ONLY thing against the PS3 in europe. And that is the man responsible.) Might have something to do with that. If 2 weeks before launch we hear something about cheaper PS3's... we know why.



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robjoh on 14 February 2007

Can't it just be good old plain greed? I mean mayby he got more money at the new job.



 

 

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Kwaad on 14 February 2007

robjoh said: Can't it just be good old plain greed? I mean mayby he got more money at the new job.
I doubt that.



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reverie on 14 February 2007

You mean the UK price ist pretty high (18% above the US price). The EUR-pricepoint is not. I don't see why Sony would let that sales guy decide the price on his own. I'm pretty sure that Ken Kutaragi will decide the PS3 price for each territory.



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gamingdevil on 14 February 2007

Kwaad said: My point is. I've been thinking. He's the one that says how much the PS3 costs. Sony might have jumped him for setting the price so high. And was going to 'demote' him. And he quit, so he wouldnt have demotion on him. (the high european price is the ONLY thing against the PS3 in europe. And that is the man responsible.) Might have something to do with that. If 2 weeks before launch we hear something about cheaper PS3's... we know why.
Sony decides their product prices not just a person... just like every other company...




fooflexible on 14 February 2007

Yeah, this is a major call, there is no way he's in charge of picking the price, and you don't think they knew his price before now? They approve all of that stuff even if he submitted a proposal. But the price is going to effect their return on something their losing money on so they wouldn't let him choose that. Most likely his job was to secure negotitions with all sales outlets, perhaps he even secures distrubutions. Makes a deal with toy 'r us if they have special promotions, or works with Gamestop with reserving games, probably oversees reps going to stores and promotional items brought in to all sales locations. If all the buzz we been hearing is true about the ps3 preselling out everywhere in Europe then it hardly seems likely that Sony would be upset with him. It could be for entirely unrelated reasons but the timing is so bizzare I can't help but think there's more to it. And most likely we'll never know.