Page 3 Profile: Andrew House, sony ceo

The diagnostic doctor?

No, that was Gregory House MD. Andrew House is the president and CEO of Sony. There have been good and bad days for the Welsh businessman since he took the top job at Sony’s PlayStation department two years ago, but yesterday must have been one of the best.

As well as unveiling his company’s latest games console to tech enthusiasts at the E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles, Mr House was able to publicly offer a knock-out blow to rivals Microsoft. He announced the PlayStation4 would go on sale later this year for $399 (£256), $100 less than Microsoft’s Xbox One. Stealing a march on Bill Gates in the race for gamer’s hearts, the 47-year-old also said Sony would allow gaming without an internet connection or authentication, unlike Microsoft.

And he was well-received?

His speech was hailed by tech commentators as the ideal response to the Xbox One launch last month. Alex Simmons, UK editor of entertainment website IGN, said Mr House had bloodied Microsoft’s nose. The bookmakers Paddy Power even slashed the chance of Sony outstripping Microsoft on console sales in 2013 from 4/11 to 2/9. The Xbox One’s odds drifted from 15/8 to 11/4.

You said he’s had bad days too?

Mr House has been a Sony man for more than 20 years, moving to Sony’s Tokyo office in 1990 after emigrating to Japan to teach English. His career has taken him to the US and back to Britain, where he ran PlayStation Europe before his promotion to head of the company’s gaming wing in 2011, and return to Tokyo.

He said last year: “The challenge for me has been getting back to a point where I’m operating for 95 per cent of the day in Japanese.”

In 2012, Sony posted the second biggest losses in its history, although the PlayStation side of the business managed to scrape a profit.