Ken Kutaragi, the father of the PlayStation, who essentially was forced out of Sony when the PlayStation 3 arrived to retail with a belly-flop, has been named the External Director at Marvelous AQL.

“According to Nikkei, the move would allow Marvelous AQL to capitalise on Kutaragi’s expertise on the video games industry to speed up developments in the company’s business both in Japan and overseas.

Recently Marvelous AQL also made headlines after it acquired Atlus Online, the developer behind Shin Megami Tensei Online: Imagine, and changed the name of their subsidiary in the US, XSEED games, to Marvelous USA.

Kutaragi will officially assume the post in June at a Marvelous AQL board meeting.”

Marvelous AQL has published Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Boy on Steam, and is the Japanese publisher of Skullgirls. They have also worked on Soul Sacrifice for the Vita, and Fortune Street on the Wii. No further announcements have been made at this time as to the specifics of this position, or whether any other Marvelous AQL games will see a broader release as a result of this hiring.

Source(s):

• Ken Kutaragi, the father of PlayStation, named External Director at Marvelous AQL