In celebration of a friend & a master of play
President & CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe — the Boston-born businessman widely known as the father of the European PlayStation, whose marketing and leadership helped turn a grey box into a cultural phenomenon.
Few people move an industry by sheer force of belief. Christopher did — one console, one launch, one million living rooms at a time.
The life
Raised in Massachusetts by an Italian-American mother and a German father, Christopher learned early what hard work could build. That drive carried him through America’s oldest public school, into Harvard, and eventually across the Atlantic to build Sony’s games business in Europe from nothing.
Born January 15 in Boston, a working-class start — a family without a TV or car for their first fourteen years. His father managed Harvard’s dining halls.
Attended Boston Latin School, the oldest free public school in the United States. He was one of thirty-two in the “Math X” section — thirteen of whom won places at Harvard, four at MIT.
Studied computer science at Boston College, graduating magna cum laude, then took an MBA in marketing from Harvard Business School.
Product manager for the Gillette razor brand, then McKinsey & Co in New York, returning to Gillette to run worldwide shaving before marketing for all of Europe. His first games-industry step: VP of international marketing at Atari, then VP at Spinnaker Software.
Head of international marketing at Columbia Pictures, which Sony acquired in 1989. He rose to international COO of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment from 1990–95.
Sent to London to establish Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, serving first as its founding president and later chairman, until 2005. He launched the PlayStation across Europe in 1995, PlayStation 2 in 2000, and PSP in 2004.
Received the BAFTA Interactive Industry Award for lifetime contributions to the games industry — alongside an ELSPA Hall of Fame honour and the chairmanship of the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival.
After retiring from Sony in December 2005, he remained a guiding force — non-executive chairman at Codemasters, director at Wayfinder Systems and PlaySpan, and chairman of Tangentix, with board roles at Geomerics and Jetix Europe.
The PlayStation years
At its peak, the formats Christopher championed rewrote the record books and reshaped how an entire generation spent its spare hours.
He is remembered as the marketing mind behind PlayStation’s European breakthrough — turning an unproven newcomer into one of the defining cultural brands of the modern era.
Portraits & memories
This page is made to grow. Drop real photographs of Christopher into these frames — a portrait, a launch night, a story worth keeping — and they will live here.