Kotaku
Well, it's Monday and, right on cue, here's Phil Harrison's new job: President and "Directeur Général Délégué" of Infogrames. He is also a member of the board of directors. Shoot, I was hoping he'd stay in the video game industry.
We kid, because we love you, Phil... and we're a little worried.
Harrison will be overseeing the studios and content development for the group, which owns the Atari brand.
"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."
I'd imagine that Infogrames would have had to drop quite a bit of coin to lure Harrison away from Sony, though I bet that fancy new title helped. Heck, I'd be Directeur Général Délégué for Infogrames just for the business cards.
PHIL HARRISON APPOINTED PRESIDENT (DIRECTEUR GENERAL DELEGUE) AT INFOGRAMES AND JOINS THE BOARD OF DIRECTORSFormer 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".
Comments
Good luck to Phil...although personally I think that he was a great asset to Sony and would be better off there. I suppose this won't hurt anyone though.
Biggest downgrade ever?
Oooh sounds like an exciting job. Good luck Phil!
And btw:
WHEN THE FUCK IS HOME COMING OUT???
New Atari console confimred.
@Korey: downgrade? He'll probably make more money with them than he did with Sony....
Does Kotaku still have Harrison's chewing gum?
If you clone him, I bet you could get a decent price selling the clone back to Sony. That way, both companies get their own Phil!
And Kotaku Tower could probably use a maid.
Harrison is awesome, good luck at his new job, but i wish he would have stayed with sony, he was the most likeable of the executive types.
Okay, wat? You leave heading up a group responsible for LBP, Killzone 2, Resistance 2, Motorstorm 2, probably God of War III and a slew of other titles... to rebuild the Atari brand? Maybe there's lots going on behind the scenes that I don't get, but that seems weird to me.
Way to downgrade
That IS a pretty awesome title if I do say so myself.
@Barbara: I'd buy it!
Harrison, you rock. Come back :P
some people love a challenge. here's hoping he'll push atari in the right direction.
New, from Atari! Pong 4000? ...er, I got nothing cool. Hope you come up with some good IPs soon that are attached to good games Phil!
Here's to "alone in the dark" being the huge success to put atari back on the map
i respect a man for taking on a Challenge.
oh, and what a Challenge it is...
New from Atari:
Pong - the turn-based RPG.
Maybe Phil Harrison got tired of leading a major power in the video game industry? Either way everyone wins! Atatri gets someone who knows how to make good games that are not named DragonBall Z and Sony gets rid of some silly tall dude with a cool accent. Win-Win right?
I personally wished he would quit several times over the years after some of the things he's said. But I never wished he'd work at Infogrames. Nobody deserves that.
Well I guess after dealing with Kutaragi and Sony Japan for all of those years, saving Infogrames should be a cakewalk for Harrison.
Good luck Phil. Save that company from itself! Many a nostalgic gamer would appreciate it...
poor phil, he's got a tough road ahead
Hope he can keep infrograms going they have been in trouble over the last few years.
WOO HOO!!! Hope ET 2 dropps soon!!!
@Korey: Not a downgrade. Big upgrade. He's probably getting paid a lot more.
Good luck to him. Hopefully he can push Atari in the right direction I'm sure he'll relish the gargantuan challenge.
Strange to think that like a week or two ago we were all joking that he might join Atari... well, there we have it. I respect him for doing it though, he obviously loves a challenge. Good Luck Phil! We all know you need it and we believe that you will (some how) succeed.
Atari? Well, someone has to make sure the DBZ fighters keep on coming.
@scrawledinwax: Not really weird. These exec types are already set for life financially; I don't really think they're looking for job security. Rebuilding a brand like Atari may be his way of finding a challenge in his work; looking for something to conquer. The more money you have, the less value it holds; it's not as much of a motivator. & stuff or something.
so...DO believe everything you read on the internet?
Infogrames? Atari? Hm.
Well, I'm sure if anyone can take them out of their slump, it's Phil Harrison. Some original new IPs please.
I wonder who Sony will choose to replace his role while it's being temporarily held by Kaz Hirai. I doubt Kaz will be as efficient at maintaining two roles in the long-term.
@Jesus Christ: Between you comment and your pick.... LOL.
Usually people go from a sinking company to a successful one, like Peter Moore going from Sega to Microsoft, but Phil is different. He see's this as a huge challenge and I certainly wish him the best!
If he does manage to turn Atari into a leading name again it will definitely confirm him as a legend of the gaming world. Good luck Phil!
Dammit they nerfed my Harrison!
If anyone can save Atari, it'd probably be Phil.
@Barbara: A new Atari console would make a nice twist to the console war.
I wonder if it would have a chance.
Well it would be interesting if another company came out with a console.
You'll all be eating your words when Atari rises again.
Atari has been a garbage company for years, I think this is a bad move. I don't believe Phil is capable of making Atari a respectable name again.
Lets hope he can help turn Infogrames into something more than a retirement home for previously great developers/publishers.
I mean, look at the companies they have gobbled up:
- Atari
- MicroProse
- Ocean
- Gremlin Interactive
- Accolade
- GT Interactive
- Shiny Entertainment
It's basically half of the great companies I remember from my childhood, yet they are producing bugger all.
If only they hadn't sold off DMA Design/Rockstar and the Civilization franchise to Take Two, they might be in a better position.
I'd bet alot of money that many people are going to invest in Atari and Infro because of this, their stock is gunna shoot up
You know what would be sad? If Phil got Atari/Infogames back on their feet, only to have it gobbled up by EA in 2 years.
Wasn't Phil's big complaint that the Japanese management didn't "get" Home? Nintendo and Sony both had to be pulled kicking and screaming into doing online games. Quick- name a Japanese-developed game with good online. FFXI? Lost Planet? Nope. Home may die an apathetic death unless Stringer takes up the torch.
You all just wait when i said He was moving to EA i forgot to say he was really moving to Infogrames With EA mighty appetite it will consume Infogrames and he will be bought as well.
And... BOOM! Suddenly, Phil is an utterly irrelevant figure.
NEXT.
he can pretty much get a job anywhere, but this would be interesting
Atari are SOOOOOOO coming back. Test Drive Unlimited, Alone in the Dark and..... and..... shoot.
Most people scoffed at this possibility when it broke last week at GDC. At this point, I'm just going to assume anything I read on the 'net regarding games, not matter how implausible, is true from now on. =)
Infogrames? I didn't even know they were still around. A glance at a Wikipedia entry for them shows a rather large read under the heading "Financial Difficulties".
Maybe not the best move in my opinion...
Well atleast we get to see Atari rise up out of the ashes and maybe make a few original IPs for once.
And i would also like to know when Home is coming out as i just purchased my PS3 a few days ago just for MGS4 and Home
I'm going to find some quotes where Mr. Harrison put down the Wii and/or 360 and casually drop said comments whenever he inevitably praises the same consoles now that he is Directeur Général Délégué of a 3rd party developer.
I suppose I could really do the same for Peter Moore. Yay, homework!
Oh, and people keep talking about how this is a challenge for Mr. Harrison... but, um? If I recall correctly, he just left Sony, who are not, how we say, in the best of situations.
Not Atari bad, of course, but still.
Atari has a bright future, if only because once you've hit rock bottom you can only go up :)
Whoah. Either he knows something we don't, or he really, really likes a challenge.
Hope Phil can help them out. I know Phil Harrison was a huge reason why I payed attention to Sony during the late '06 through mid '07 down time Sony games had. Plus, he was an excellent speaker who's accent just literally mesmerized me (I still recall his '07 GDC keynote).
Still, If Atari/Infogrames can at least get some movie crap and then actual titles people care about (if they're not taken, maybe Infogrames should buyout TreyArc, who've done some of the CoD games) then they should be able to get their act together.
Either way, good luck to Phil and his shiny new title!
Its time for Phil Harrison to save Atari. Good luck Phil, if anyone can do it, its you
Obviously Phil Harrison appreciates a hardcore challenge! Getting "Atari" profitable again is the businessman's version of beating Battletoads-without continues.
This is really exciting. We (CD Projekt) have been really impressed with David Gardner's approach to his new position, and getting Phil on board gives me even more hope for the future.
phil has set sony on it's way. he probably spearheaded the recent spate of good news, and has left them a list of things to announce and when for the rest of the year - just to make sure.
so now, like a crusader for the weak and vulnerable, he swoops in to rescue infogrames and atari... next it's silicon knights, and then microsoft!!!
So, do I mentally file this as "Sony", "P. Harrison", "Infogrames" or "Atari" news? HELP! :(
Seriously though, nothing bad can come of this. Because Atari is already as low as it gets. Infogrames though, are pretty all right. They did some awesome games back then. Gimme some IPs.
I hope this means a new Independence War video game!
Maybe with an actually usable interface this time...
If Phil can pull this one off he'll be an even bigger figure in the industry than he is already.
I'd love the Atari name to be honoured again like it once was back in the early 80's. (yeah I'm old)
infowho? Man, what a downgrade! Phil, I hope you will enjoy your new role! Me? I would have stayed on and ensured PS3's success into 2010 and enjoy the spoils. PSN is a tremendous platform for online growth...isn't that what you care about?
Oh man that's a kick in the nuts. Who blackballed him so bad he had to settle for Infogrammes?! Ah geeze. I hate to see successful folks all of a sudden work at Infogrammes. My god. He's be better off getting a temp gig at McDonalds. Cooking fries at McDonalds has more of a future in the video game industry than Infogrammes.
@Smash_Bro: No one will argue Sony had a bit of a rocky start this generation (in comparison to their end last generation) but man to say they're in any sort of "trouble" is really reaching. I suspect a #2 finish for Sony in this console generation. And it won't be like last time...#2 and #3 are going to have a huge gap between them.
God I hope he doesn't have to learn and function in French from now on. That would suck no matter how much they've paid him.