SCE WORLDWIDE STUDIOS PRESIDENT
PHIL HARRISON RESIGNS
SCEI Group CEO Kazuo Hirai Assumes Responsibilities
http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/080225e.html
Tokyo, February 25, 2008 - Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI)
today announced that Phil Harrison, President of Sony Computer
Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS), will resign from Sony
Computer Entertainment Group as of February 29, 2008. Kazuo Hirai,
President and Group CEO of SCEI, will immediately assume
responsibilities as president of SCE WWS, in addition to his current
duties.
Prior to the launch of the original PlayStation(R), Phil Harrison joined
Sony Electronics Publishing, Ltd. in 1992, which later evolved into
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, and since then, he has made a
tremendous contribution to the company playing a strategic role in the
launch of four PlayStation platforms, as well as building strong
relationships with game developers and publishers throughout the
world. Since his appointment to the position of president, SCE WWS,
Harrison applied his considerable skill, knowledge and expertise to
lead SCE Group's first party game development as well as aggressively
pursuing the development of new online entertainment experiences.
"As one of the founding members of SCE, Phil played a key role in the
development and growth of the PlayStation business and our industry,"
said Kazuo Hirai. "It is sad to see him departing from SCE, but I wish
to express my gratitude for his many invaluable contributions and also
wish Phil the very best of luck in his future endeavors."
"The past 15 years at Sony Computer Entertainment has been the
defining journey of my life so far," said Phil Harrison. "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."
__________________________________________
http://www.psxextreme.com/psp-news/1172.html
Phil Harrison to Join Infogrames/Atari?
Have you had time to digest the news of Phil Harrison's departure?
If you haven't and are still coping, then perhaps you'll want to take
a deep breath for this bit of "news". Gamesindustry.biz has received
word that Phil Harrison's departure from Sony doesn't mean he's
leaving the gaming world.
Instead, apparently, he's on his way to head up operations at
Infogrames, the parent company of Atari. If true, Harrison will join
Infogrames CEO David Gardner, who was formerly EA's Chief Operating
Officer of Worldwide Studios. Gardner was with EA from 1983 up until
2008, and Harrison was with Sony since 1993. Together, Gardner and
Harrison share an immense amount of business talent, and can very well
restore the Atari brand.
"My goal is to help rebuild that passion around the company," said
Gardner. "First, with the employees and then very quickly to spread it
virally on the internet to millions of new customers. I have a
personal challenge to create a world-class company that is European in
flavour 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 realise this vision," he
added.
We recently found out that Harrison wasn't entirely pleased with
how Sony was handling their approach toward the casual market - the
market that the Wii has capitalized on, which has helped it catapult
to immense success. With this possible move coming to fruition,
Harrison and Gardner may very well make the Atari brand cater to the
new demographic of casual gamers, perhaps by targeting releases for
the Nintendo Wii and the PlayStation 2. And to be frank, the Atari
brand would make for a good candidate as the publisher of enjoyable
casual titles, but we still hope that under this new direction,
they'll begin to present us with proper AAA material.
_____________________________________
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3166576
Phil Harrison Resigns from Sony
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.
_______________
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9877883-1.html
PlayStation head Harrison to step down
Phil Harrison, head of Sony Computer Entertainment International
worldwide studios, plans to leave his post February 29.
It appears that the poor performance of the PlayStation 3 may have
claimed another victim among Sony's top brass.
Sony announced early Monday that Phil Harrison, president of Sony
Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios--and therefore the head of
the PlayStation group--would be stepping down February 29.
No specific reason was given for Harrison's departure. Kazuo Hirai,
president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment International,
plans to assume Harrison's position.
One can assume that Harrison may well be the latest head to roll in
the wake of the poor performance of the PlayStation 3--the next-
generation video game console that launched with gigantic expectations
but has wallowed in third place, trailing Nintendo's Wii and
Microsoft's Xbox 360.
The April departure of Ken Kutaragi, the so-called "father" of the
PlayStation, was widely assumed to be a result of the PS3's poor
sales.
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