Phil Harrison leaves Sony News

25 February, 2008

Phil Harrison will resign as president of SCE Worldwide Studios on 29th February 2008, Sony has just announced.

SCEI president and CEO Kaz Hirai will assume his responsibilities in addition to his current duties.

No reason has been given for Harrison's departure, and Sony has said it will make no further statements.

Harrison, one of the most recognisable faces in the games industry, has "made a tremendous contribution" to Sony since joining in 1992, the company said.

"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," Kaz Hirai said.

"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 endeavours."

Harrison himself said: "The past 15 years at Sony Computer Entertainment has been the defining journey of my life so far. 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."

No word yet on where Harrison is going, or whether Sony plans to replace him or if Hirai will continue doing both jobs indefinitely.

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Lexx87

25/02/08 @ 10:10

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Well that's the end of the PS3 then

/waits

Eraysor

25/02/08 @ 10:11

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I bet any amount he's going to EA.

X201

25/02/08 @ 10:11

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As called by an EG'er
Take a bow JayeM

monkie_king

25/02/08 @ 10:18

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Is this related to his "nobody listened to me!" rant about multiplayer games and Nintendo the other day?

4thVariety

25/02/08 @ 10:18

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When not in charge, join someone who puts you in charge.

Congratulations

penhalion

25/02/08 @ 10:19

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Going to EA to join a certain Ex Microsoft man!

Maybe he's off to Microsoft so they have an excuse to do an XBox720 when he kills the 360!

Maybe Nintendo want him to bring their Wii sales demand in line with the amount of machines they can produce (i.e. reduce demand for the Wii. Heaven knows they haven't been able to)!

Maybe he'll split his time between all three of my suggestions.

kangarootoo

25/02/08 @ 10:21

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He is off to Atari apparently.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_pag...

sonmi451

25/02/08 @ 10:23

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he's joining Marillion to play the spoons.

SentientNr6

25/02/08 @ 10:23

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@monkie_king

Well AFAIK it's the first time I heard him critisize his own company and he week later he 'leaves'.
Join the dots.

Eraysor

25/02/08 @ 10:23

#10

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Nobody can save Atari now.

tinderbox

25/02/08 @ 10:26

#11

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If Atari wasn't doomed before, they are now.

penhalion

25/02/08 @ 10:26

#12

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@kangarootoo

Ouch! Even the guys I work with wouldn't wish atari on me and I can be pretty insulting of my fellow devs on occasions.

lennon

25/02/08 @ 10:26

#13

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My boycott of new PS3 games is now officially over. :)

Mentalist(air)

25/02/08 @ 10:26

#14

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Nobody can save Atari now

They should change its name back to Infogrames and bring back the Armadillo.

And make every game of theirs use the 3D armadillo logo sequence off of Alone In The Dark 1.

Edited 1 times, most recently on 25/02/08 @ 10:27

monkie_king

25/02/08 @ 10:26

#15

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Aha, he's off to "spearhead Atari's push into the casual space". Bring on the Wii shovelware!

myiagros

25/02/08 @ 10:27

#16

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is a sad day for Sony, but possibly a happy day for Atari if reports are to be believed.

miiiguel

25/02/08 @ 10:30

#17

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Dude, this guy aint a choir boy, he said what he said, knowing it.

He left because he digs games, and Sony only cares about movies and players and TVs and cell phones.

Edited 1 times, most recently on 25/02/08 @ 10:31

kangarootoo

25/02/08 @ 10:32

#18

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"Dude, this guy aint a choir boy, he said what he said, knowing it"

What?

Edit: Thats better :)

Edited 1 times, most recently on 25/02/08 @ 10:34

miiiguel

25/02/08 @ 10:34

#19

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"... his japanese bosses wouldn't like that so I doubt it was his decision."
What tried to say was, a guy like this doesn't come to the media saying Sony sucks without knowing he's going to leave to another place.

Edited 2 times, most recently on 25/02/08 @ 10:39

kangarootoo

25/02/08 @ 10:37

#20

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Wasn't it an overheard converstion at a private lunch though? I didn't think PH made those comment in interview or anything.

Darren

25/02/08 @ 10:43

#21

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Well Phil Harrison has been very quiet of late as far as the media was concerned (bar the comment about the Japanese last week) so this announcement doesn't surprise me at all. I can't say I was fond of the guy as a spokesman for Sony particularly as I found many of his comments cringeworthy ("rumble is last gen"... yeah, right...), he came across as slightly creepy (LOL) and I rarely believed anything he said anyway. He always came across as too smug and arrogant for my liking, the total opposite of Peter Moore, who wasn't exactly perfect either but at least came across as geniune for the most part.

Penguinzoot

25/02/08 @ 10:49

#22

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Why am I not surprised?

@Kangarootoo:

Whether it was an overhead conversation or not, it was um, indiscreet to say the least. Indescretion and disloyalty are not regarded highly in any corporate sphere, let alone a Japanese company.

Anyway, Phil's been a bit on the quiet side for a long time now. Perhaps that was intentional, I don't know. Either way I don't suppose he'll find it too difficult to get another job ;-)

Edited 1 times, most recently on 25/02/08 @ 10:55

cw-

25/02/08 @ 10:50

#23

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Rumble was last gen, it's just expected to be a standard in all current and future gens though, not removed. Silliness..

sharpfish

25/02/08 @ 10:51

#24

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good, with that cockhead gone I can now buy a ps3.

syphaa

25/02/08 @ 10:53

#25

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Bit of a shock!
Be funny if he went to EA, and teamed up with Peter Moore.
OOOOH THE CONTROVERSY!

monkie_king

25/02/08 @ 10:53

#26

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Darren: yeah, I think I agree with all of that. This is actually one less thing putting me off the PS3.

It's going to be interesting comparing the things he says about his casual-market Atari Wii games with some of his PS3-era pronouncements. Sure, he's just a corporate mouthpiece doing his job, but he did consistently come across as an utter arse in the process.

edit: sharpfish, you too eh?

Edited 1 times, most recently on 25/02/08 @ 10:54

BBIAJ

25/02/08 @ 10:54

#27

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Bye bye Phil, take your delusions that MotorStorm on the PStriple looks better than the FMV target renders you showed off with you...

sanctusmortis

25/02/08 @ 10:57

#28

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Yay! Shocked it's not to EA, but he's still off to a dev. Never liked him, would like to see Sony hire someone LIKEABLE.

Prox

25/02/08 @ 11:00

#29

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This is bad news for Sony WWS - at least Phil Harrison was very 'pro developer' and gave a lot of creative freedom to the devs. Compared to the rest of Sony management he was a gamer at heart and not an accountant or marketing bod.

Microsoft are struggling to get a decent foothold in mainland Europe and Microsoft Game Studios are building up their European arm at the moment - it's a possibility they've poached Phil Harrison as someone who could fulfil their need to target Europe with games which are less hardcore (Buzz, Singstar, Eyetoy etc).

Edited 1 times, most recently on 25/02/08 @ 11:01

cw-

25/02/08 @ 11:01

#30

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would like to see Sony hire someone LIKEABLE.

They should hire me, I'm likeable..

syphaa

25/02/08 @ 11:03

#31

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RUMOURS ARE ITS ATARI HE'S GOING TO!

Weezer

25/02/08 @ 11:05

#32

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Does the guy really need to work any more? If he didn't make millions off the PS brand I'll eat my own hands.

With his cash - and the funding he could no doubt raise - I'd start my own games dev.

Totoriko

25/02/08 @ 11:08

#33

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I heard he's replacing the actor who plays Lex Luthor in Smallville.

Edited 1 times, most recently on 25/02/08 @ 11:08

SpeedyThing

25/02/08 @ 11:11

#34

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Despite how he often came across in the media Phil Harrison is one of the main reason the console market has been dominated by Sony for the last 10 years. In recent years he has been their public face, trying to hype a machine he has obviously had little faith and trying to gloss over its glaring problems (because that is what he is paid to do).

First Ken got disgruntled, then Phil. With all their visionaries gone we now have Mr. Kaz "Ridge Racer" Hirai in charge of the PS3. I'm not sure what it would have taken to get me to buy one but that really wasn't it!

El_MUERkO

25/02/08 @ 11:11

#35

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it's only a matter of time before Reggie Fils-Aime turns up dead

Xerx3s

25/02/08 @ 11:16

#36

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Cue stupid rumours of sony backing out of the console business (as with peter more).

betahoven

25/02/08 @ 11:21

#37

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I'd say this has been brewing for a while but they've delayed the announcement until today so as not to overshadow GDC. He obviously felt able to make those comments last week because he knew he was leaving.

Also if you read the article about Phil's legacy here it doesn't exactly read like something thrown together this morning, so I wonder if a few people in the gaming media knew this was coming.

SBfistfun

25/02/08 @ 11:24

#38

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"I have been offered an even bigger couch, therefore I must sadly resign"

miiiguel

25/02/08 @ 11:31

#39

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PS3 already reached its goal - the Blu Ray thing. Now lets wait for the real games machine, hopefully PS4.

vane101

25/02/08 @ 11:35

#40

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"Cue stupid rumours of sony backing out of the console business (as with peter more)."

That's Sony out of the console business then! :D

RexRunti

25/02/08 @ 11:36

#41

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As much as I disliked the impression I got of Phil I do think he was very good for Sony. Crazy Kaz is taking his job just as things were begining to Sony's way, I can't see how this is a good thing for them.

Also when Peter Moore went you could see that had been arranged a while in advance, we knew who was replacing him, where he was going etc. He even came up with the typical "spend more time with family" bull shit. I get the feeling Phil won't be as pleasent to his previous employers as Peter was.

miiiguel

25/02/08 @ 11:39

#42

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Sony "thing" isn't games/software, that's clear.

Edited 1 times, most recently on 25/02/08 @ 11:39

kincaide

25/02/08 @ 11:39

#43

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Have that Sony fanbois

monkie_king

25/02/08 @ 11:41

#44

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SpeedyThing: yeah, in fairness to the guy, it was part of his job to talk up the PlayStation brand and gloss over all the PS3's problems. But Peter Moore and Reggie Fils-Aims manage to do the same without becoming huge hate-figures.

I think the trouble is that he actually believed his own hype. Probably because of the huge successes of PS1 and PS2, like when a band has a couple of successful albums and in their coke-fuelled arrogance thinks that whatever they churn out next will automatically be tinged with genius. He always seemed dreadfully conceited in interviews.

BadBoyBonner

25/02/08 @ 11:47

#45

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You can say what you want about Phil (I know I have in the past - when he has clearly been playing Corporate Mouth Puppet) but it must have been killing him seeing whats happened.

Anyone who thinks he was desperate for Blu-ray, enjoyed waiting nearly 18 months longer for the machine to launch, having to be the face that stated rumble was last gen (clearly knowing his credibility stock would fall faster than Enron's) and seeing the Playstation brand slip to third place, is clearly wrong.

I assume he went from feeling he had one of the best jobs in the industry - to thinking why bother, when nobody is taking a blind bit of notice to his opinions (internally).

Always enjoyed his more candid interviews - which hopefully there will be more of in light of last weeks quotes.

Rash'

25/02/08 @ 11:49

#46

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I don't want to get into a big hoo-ha about this, but shouldn't Harrison be judged on the work he did rather than the comments he made in public? After all the lines he pitched to the media were consistant with company policies, which to me demonstrates an intelligent public face. Harrison saying rumble is last gen and him actually believing it are two very different things. His a respected figure in the industry for the work he did at Sony. Do you guys actually believe that respect is unfounded? I think its a sad day for Sony. Harrison was a coy, composed and intelligent public face for Sony one that I will miss fronting them.

pervertron

25/02/08 @ 11:53

#47

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Sony Europe is fucked. Sorry guys!

betahoven

25/02/08 @ 11:59

#48

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pervertron, why is Sony Europe fucked? Do you even know what Harrison's job was?

JediMasterMalik

25/02/08 @ 11:59

#49

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I thought Harrison was very good for Sony, he seemed like a more outspoken and honest guy compared to most. Could this be the fallout from his comments made on Sony Japan, or did he make them cause he knew he was leaving anyway? Chicken, egg...

miiiguel

25/02/08 @ 12:06

#50

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I'm a utter noob in work experience compared to these kinda guys and I know when I go to some event that I mustn't talk anything bad about my job or bosses..., not at lunch, not at any coffee break... unless I know I'll be moving on.