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View Full Version : Phil Harrison Jumps from a leaky ship to a sinking one, Appointed Prez of Atari


jer7583
03-03-2008, 07:50 PM
PR Incoming. Guess the guy likes a challenge. Best of luck to him with that disaster of a company. Maybe he can return their image to what it once was, like 30 years ago.

PHIL HARRISON APPOINTED PRESIDENT (DIRECTEUR GENERAL DELEGUE) AT INFOGRAMES AND JOINS THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Former President of Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment, with World Class Gaming Expertise Joins Infogrames to Lead Group Publishing and Game Development into the Network Era

Lyon - France, March 3, 2008 - Infogrames Entertainment announces today the appointment of Phil Harrison as President and Directeur Général Délégué of Infogrames Entertainment, reporting to David Gardner. Phil Harrison also joins the Board of Directors

With the recent appointment of David Gardner as CEO, Phil and David will together form the basis of a transformational leadership team at Infogrames that will grow the Atari brand into a leading online game company. Phil Harrison will oversee the Studios and content development for the group. Phil will be in charge of boosting the Group's publishing activities, notably through reinforcing its franchise portfolio of products, developing its new packaged and online games, and strengthening its internal and external studio capability through attracting world-class design and development talent to the organisation.

David Gardner, the CEO of Infogrames, declared: "I am pleased to welcome Phil to Infogrames. He has an outstanding reputation in the industry, as one of the key leaders behind the success of PlayStation. We have been seeking an opportunity to work together for some time and I am certain he will be able to make a significant contribution to the publishing strategy of the Group. Drawing upon Infogrames' strong financial foundation, Phil will have the means to attract new talent, develop studio and online capabilities, and drive forward our publishing activities. I want to work with people that understand fun for consumers and fun in the company culture. We're going to have a lot more of both around here with Phil!"

Regarding his appointment, Phil stated, "This is the perfect time to join Infogrames and help shape the future of Atari - one of the industry's legendary brands. As the game business moves rapidly online I believe we have an outstanding opportunity to create amazing network game and community experiences for players the world over. I am especially excited to be working on this challenge together with David, one of the most respected leaders and successful executives in our industry."

An International Game Development Pioneer Joins Infogrames

Phil Harrison is a leading executive in the field of interactive entertainment software and hardware with a career that spans over 20 years in this industry. He joins Infogrames from Sony Computer Entertainment, where he most recently was the President of Worldwide Studios and headed the PlayStation video games software development business unit. In this position, working closely with the talented game development studios in Japan, Europe, North America and Polyphony Digital, Inc., Phil Harrison was responsible for setting the global product strategy and leading the management team of 16 development studios in 5 countries, with over 2500 employees. Under his leadership, Sony created more than 10 original software franchises that have each generated over $100M in revenue.

Phil spent over 15 years at Sony, where he was a key contributor and innovator in building the PlayStation family of products and developing it into of the most successful brands in interactive entertainment globally. Since launching in December 1994, over 250 million units of PlayStation-branded hardware and more than 2 billion units of software from Sony Computer Entertainment and licensed publishing partners have been sold, making it one of the world's leading entertainment and technology brands.

Phil Harrison started his career in 1989, as head of development for Mindscape International and prior to that as a consultant game designer and graphic artist in the UK. Since joining Sony in 1992, Phil has held executive management positions in Europe and North America, where he served as Vice President, Third Party Relations and Research and Development for Sony Computer Entertainment from 1996 to 2000.

Commenting on this appointment, Michel Combes, Chairman of the Board of Infogrames stated " Having spent their entire careers in the video games industry, David Gardner and Phil Harrison bring their vision, their passion and a proven track-record of success in this arena to Infogrames. Phil Harrison is a great business developer, with an outstanding ability to innovate great products in the games industry. He brings with him an impressive track record from Sony, one of the leading technology, media and entertainment companies in the world. We are delighted that he has decided to join Infogrames at this transformative moment in its history to spearhead our publishing, game development and studio activities".

hankmecrankme
03-03-2008, 08:12 PM
Maybe he'll end up buried in a New Mexico landfill.

Halo05
03-03-2008, 08:26 PM
Man, I would've retired before I took over as head of Atari. Bring on the Jaguar 2!

Chacrana
03-03-2008, 09:07 PM
Pfff... well, okay. Doesn't change the fact that you can almost always write off a game as crap when you see the Atari logo.

Javery
03-03-2008, 09:08 PM
A good friend of mine has been the general counsel of Atari for about 4 years. I'm hoping they right the ship because I'd love to work there one day...

RelentlessRolento
03-03-2008, 09:10 PM
The OP dosn't make sense, but yeah... he can do what he wants, but this is probably the start of him just slowly taking it easy, which e deserves.

Dark Slayer120
03-05-2008, 02:01 AM
Pfff... well, okay. Doesn't change the fact that you can almost always write off a game as crap when you see the Atari logo.

Yeah, I agree 100% about that Chac.

-Never4ever-
03-05-2008, 02:11 AM
From the frying pan into the fire . . .

CoffeeEdge
03-05-2008, 02:12 AM
This is going to result in nothing but epic failure. They could get Reggie and Iwata to work take the reigns at Atari, and it'd still be doomed. It's really only a matter of time. I really don't know how they'll be able to recover from Alone in the Dark inevitably tanking, considering how much money they must have poured into it by now. Phil Harrison taking up guard there won't help a damned thing.

...this is probably the start of him just slowly taking it easy, which e deserves.
Deserves? Man, he looks like, what, 45 tops? And he's a well-paid executive. I don't think that he deserves to "take it easy" any more than every working stiff out there who's breaking their backs doing real work all day.

Strell
03-05-2008, 02:20 AM
This isn't even taking two steps forward and three steps back.

It's taking five steps back.

And falling into a hole.

Full of sharks and tasmanian devils.

And acid.

InuFaye
03-05-2008, 08:20 AM
Lets hope he is an unlockable character in the next dbz game.

Sleepkyng
03-05-2008, 08:36 AM
they're banking on his vision...

ok i can't even spin this...

Snake2715
03-05-2008, 09:44 AM
they're banking on his vision...

ok i can't even spin this...


Yeah and he requested a vision plan as part of his compensation...

camoor
03-05-2008, 10:22 AM
Deserves? Man, he looks like, what, 45 tops? And he's a well-paid executive. I don't think that he deserves to "take it easy" any more than every working stiff out there who's breaking their backs doing real work all day.

Too true. You'd have to be ultra-priveledged to believe he deserves half of what he owns.

TwinkyC
03-05-2008, 01:47 PM
Is it just me, or does anyone else think he looks like Nosferatu?

keithp
03-05-2008, 05:54 PM
From the frying pan into the fire . . .

More like from the frying pan into the garbage can.

Sleepkyng
03-05-2008, 06:02 PM
or the POOP CAN

ahahhahahhahahahaha lawls

help1
03-05-2008, 06:07 PM
Thing is, he left Sony right when they were on their upswing. Dumb.

jkanownik
03-05-2008, 07:37 PM
Thing is, he left Sony right when they were on their upswing. Dumb.

I've had a ton of personal experience with executives leaving a job that looked rosy, but it turned out the worst was yet to come. If you jump off a parabolic curve at the right time you get all of the credit and none of the blame.

guinaevere
03-05-2008, 08:03 PM
Man, I would've retired before I took over as head of Atari. Bring on the Jaguar 2!
Don't go dissing the Jaguar. That was the coolest doorstop I owned at the time.


But just so I'm fully understanding things, was his official reason for leaving Sony his disagreement with their vision? Someone please correct me or add details.

jer7583
03-05-2008, 08:23 PM
I'm pretty sure he never said anything other than "I'm excited for the new opportunity at atari blah blah blah"

But those statements at GDC certainly point at his frustration with the stubbornness of Sony Japan. "There is no social gaming trend in Japan" type stuff.

moojuice
03-06-2008, 01:15 AM
For some reason I read that as Harrison Ford, and was immediately very confused.

But after that initial confusion, I was met with more confusion with his career "move"

Thomas96
03-06-2008, 09:51 AM
I think that Harrison is a good fit at Atari. I think that Sega could have used him more. But even if Atari goes under (which i doubt) its not like he won't be able to get hired elsewhere. Harrison has proven his worth.