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Phil Harrison Resigns from Sony
Rumor has it Harrison's next stop may be Atari.
By Kris Pigna, 02/25/2008
Sony announced today that Phil Harrison will be stepping down from his position as president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, effective February 29. No reasons for Harrison's departure were given, although GamesIndustry.biz reports via unnamed sources that he may be joining Infogrames, where he would spearhead Atari's push into the casual games market.
Harrison would join current Infogrames CEO David Gardner, who has previously expressed his desire to rebuild the floundering Atari brand name (which Infogrames owns a majority share in). "My goal is to help rebuild that passion around the company. First, with the employees and then very quickly to spread it virally on the internet to millions of new customers," Gardner said. "I have a personal challenge to create a world-class company that is European in flavor but reaches global markets. This will take some time of course, but here we have fantastic gaming DNA formed at the birth of the industry, access to creative talent and a company with the working capital to make the necessary investments to realize this vision."
While not necessarily related, it's worth noting that GamesIndustry.biz also reported from GDC last week that Harrison was publicly critical of Sony Japan for being too slow to embrace casual and social gaming, conceding that Nintendo has taken advantage of that market. "It's a very interesting and frustrating thing for me to experience because I have been banging the drum about social gaming for a long time, with SingStar, EyeToy and Buzz," Harrison said. "And our Japanese colleagues said that there is no such thing as social gaming in Japan -- people do not play games on the same sofa together in each other's homes. It will never happen. And then out comes the Wii."
Whatever the reasons are for Harrison's departure from Sony, it does end a 15-year history with the company, where he was instrumental in launching all three generations of the PlayStation hardware as well as the PSP. Replacing him will be SCEI president and Group CEO Kazuo Hirai, who will assume Harrison's responsibilities along with those of his current position. It's currently unclear whether this setup will be permanent, or if Hirai will be an interim substitute while Sony searches for a new replacement.
Harrison may have had a few critical things to say about Sony at GDC, but he was nothing but pleasant in a public statement regarding his resignation. "The past 15 years at Sony Computer Entertainment has been the defining journey of my life so far," Harrison said. "I am grateful to all the PlayStation family for their incredible support, guidance and friendship. It has been a privilege to serve as part of the team and be inspired by them on a daily basis. I am so proud of everything PlayStation has achieved and will continue to support its future in every way I can."
Phil Harrison Resigns from Sony
Rumor has it Harrison's next stop may be Atari.
By Kris Pigna, 02/25/2008
Sony announced today that Phil Harrison will be stepping down from his position as president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, effective February 29. No reasons for Harrison's departure were given, although GamesIndustry.biz reports via unnamed sources that he may be joining Infogrames, where he would spearhead Atari's push into the casual games market.
Harrison would join current Infogrames CEO David Gardner, who has previously expressed his desire to rebuild the floundering Atari brand name (which Infogrames owns a majority share in). "My goal is to help rebuild that passion around the company. First, with the employees and then very quickly to spread it virally on the internet to millions of new customers," Gardner said. "I have a personal challenge to create a world-class company that is European in flavor but reaches global markets. This will take some time of course, but here we have fantastic gaming DNA formed at the birth of the industry, access to creative talent and a company with the working capital to make the necessary investments to realize this vision."
While not necessarily related, it's worth noting that GamesIndustry.biz also reported from GDC last week that Harrison was publicly critical of Sony Japan for being too slow to embrace casual and social gaming, conceding that Nintendo has taken advantage of that market. "It's a very interesting and frustrating thing for me to experience because I have been banging the drum about social gaming for a long time, with SingStar, EyeToy and Buzz," Harrison said. "And our Japanese colleagues said that there is no such thing as social gaming in Japan -- people do not play games on the same sofa together in each other's homes. It will never happen. And then out comes the Wii."
Whatever the reasons are for Harrison's departure from Sony, it does end a 15-year history with the company, where he was instrumental in launching all three generations of the PlayStation hardware as well as the PSP. Replacing him will be SCEI president and Group CEO Kazuo Hirai, who will assume Harrison's responsibilities along with those of his current position. It's currently unclear whether this setup will be permanent, or if Hirai will be an interim substitute while Sony searches for a new replacement.
Harrison may have had a few critical things to say about Sony at GDC, but he was nothing but pleasant in a public statement regarding his resignation. "The past 15 years at Sony Computer Entertainment has been the defining journey of my life so far," Harrison said. "I am grateful to all the PlayStation family for their incredible support, guidance and friendship. It has been a privilege to serve as part of the team and be inspired by them on a daily basis. I am so proud of everything PlayStation has achieved and will continue to support its future in every way I can."
