After years of trying to make a game console — including a well-publicized collaboration with Nintendo, a less well-publicized attempt with Sega, and internal debates over whether Sony should enter the business on its own — he’d done it. With the help of hundreds of others, the 40-something engineer had taken an idea and willed it into what we now know as the PlayStation.

Unlike most game consoles at the time, the PlayStation instantly became a showcase for 3D graphics. And unlike most engineers, Kutaragi had overseen nearly every aspect of the managerial and business deals that brought it together.

The system launched to near-instant success, and — as Kutaragi saw on his walk that day — fans ate it up, purchasing games like Ridge Racer and eyeing those coming soon like Battle Arena Toshinden.

Then Kutaragi repeated his success with dozens of other initiatives, including the PlayStation 2 — which remains the best-selling console ever made — and made PlayStation into a billion-dollar business. Kutaragi formally took over Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), with many speculating that he would take over the rest of Sony as well. His luck came to an end after he ran into trouble with PlayStation 3 and then left the company, but for more than a decade, he experienced a level of success few have matched in the game industry.

Yet to some, his legacy is complicated by the way he went about making that happen.

For years, colleagues have described him with a mix of admiration and fear, commonly referring to him as “Crazy Ken” and telling stories about his tirades at work. Talk to people who knew him in his Sony days, and they’ll often describe him as “moody,” “stubborn” and an “extreme micromanager.” And nearly everyone who worked closely with him in those days seems to have stories of his abrasive approach.

(For Vector File Ask Me)