Ken Kutaragi, chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment, will step down in June and will be replaced by Kazuo Hirai, former SCEA head. Reasons include the slow uptake of the PS3 and problems with PSP and UMD format popularity in the face of rivals Nintendo and Microsoft.

This is a sad day for video gaming simply because Kutaragi essentially rebuilt high-end video gaming after the tumble in the 1980s caused by over investment and bubble-like conditions. The Playstation and Playstation 2 defined next generation gaming for over a decade, ceding some ground only to the XBox and 360 in the last few years.

Fanboi all you want, but this is huge news in the industry, akin to Jobs being ousted in the 1990s.

PlayStation Creator Resigns From Sony [WSJ via GadgetTell]