Sir Howard Stringer gives Sony chief executive role to games veteran Kazuo Hirai Cardiff-born Sir Howard, who has held the role since 2005, said in a statement that the move was part of the company's succession plans. Mr Hirai, currently executive deputy president, will take up the role from April 1. The electronics giant has been hit on a number of fronts in recent years: it has been been losing money in its television business, the strong yen has eaten into profits, hacker attacks on its PlayStation Network have dented its reputation, and Japan's earthquake-tsunami disaster and floods in Thailand last year disrupted production. Sir Howard, an American citizen and currently chairman, chief executive and president, will become chairman of the board in June. He is currently implementing a three-year turnaround plan that ends in March 2013. Mr Hirai, 51, has spent most of his career at Sony in video games, movies, music and other software businesses, playing a major role in developing the PlayStation in the 1990s. He was promoted to deputy president in April last year in a move seen by analysts as signalling a greater focus on pushing content to multiple hardware platforms such as game consoles, TVs, smartphones and tablet computers. Mr Hirai is leading the team integrating the Ericsson mobile business, acquired in full for almost £1bn in October, to ensure Sony can deliver movies and music, across devices. As part of its plans to turn around its fortunes, Sony has released its PlayStation Vita handheld console and also launched the Sony Entertainment Network, selling movie and music downloads direct to consumers. In November it bolstered its music division by leading a successful consortium bid of the music publishing business of EMI in a £1.4bn deal.