Sony was right to recall LBP - Harrison

By Games Industry.biz Published 22 October, 2008

Former Sony man loved the beta, too.

Atari president Phil Harrison has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes Sony took "absolutely the right decision" in recalling LittleBigPlanet over references to the Qur'an in one of the background songs.

Harrison, who was previously president of Sony Worldwide Studios before taking on his current role - and who championed the game from the very beginning - also thinks that the delay won't affect the game's ultimate success "one iota".

"I wasn't privy to all of the discussions and debate that went on within Sony [about the recall], but I know they would have thought very deeply about it, and at the highest level of the company," he explained.

"And on reflection I think it was absolutely the right thing to do, because LittleBigPlanet set out from day one to be a game for the entire world - and if there was anything that accidentally detracted from that vision and made the game not fun for the entire world, then the game would have fundamentally failed in its mission.

"So I think Sony took absolutely the right decision - painful though it was, and frustrating though it might be for gamers who were looking forward to it. It only seems to have heightened the anticipation, so I think it'll end up being a win, and full credit to Media Molecule for turning around a fix as quickly as they did."

Harrison also loved the beta. "I downloaded the beta, I sat down to play it, and it's pretty rare that within five seconds of starting a game you fall in love with a bit of software," he noted.

"And it was just the most fantastic experience, the whole intro sequence, where you've got the narration and the video of the dreams coming off the people in real life, going up to form the planet - I just thought that was absolutely inspired.

"And that was done after I left Sony, so all credit to Media Molecule for that, or whoever was responsible. And then you get into the game and it was just smiles all the way.

"So I think people are going to be blown away by the game, and while I'm obviously sad for the stumble, I don't think it will affect the long-term success of the game one iota."

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Comments (31) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Xerx3s #1 3 years ago

    Reckon that he realises now that he has made a mistake and wants to go back. ;)

  • michaelius #2 3 years ago

    Sounds a bit like "brown nosing" :)

  • DFawkes #3 3 years ago

    Affect it's success? It's got LBP on the 6 O'Clock News! It's got lots of mainstream publicity out of this, I'm sure Sony will be fine.

  • bad09 #4 3 years ago

    I've never ever been bored so much about a game not even out yet as I am with LBP. I'll tell you this, with all the coverage LBP is getting everywhere (for AGES!) I'm actually switching off to it again (wasn't that sold at first). I might pick it up when the hype finally dies down but hype overkill ruined a sale for me.

    Sick to death of the bloody thing!

  • Doctor_What #5 3 years ago

    Agreed, I'm getting sick of hearing about it... But I really want to play it! That preorder is still sitting there, taunting me.

  • Fab4 #6 3 years ago

    "Smiles all the way"...I think that sums up my LBP beta experience perfectly.

  • jonsaan #7 3 years ago

    "And it was just the most fantastic experience, the whole intro sequence, where you've got the narration and the video of the dreams coming off the people in real life, going up to form the planet - I just thought that was absolutely inspired.

    SPOILER. You bastards:)

  • Ultra238a #8 3 years ago

    I can see the headlines in six months time: "Sony to acquire Atari, welcomes Phil back with open arms!"

  • X201 #9 3 years ago

    Never burn your bridges

  • kinky_mong #10 3 years ago

    A song putting lines from the Quran to music in LBP. A trailer for a new Halo game containing the words Find Maddie.

    Both have been removed in the last few weeks because they could possibly cause offence.

    But which is more offensive? There's only one way to find out...

    FIGHT!!!!!

  • Dr Strangelove #11 3 years ago

    heh, kinky_mong, that's almost inspired
    Edited by 1 at 22/10/08 @ 11:10

  • SEVQA #12 3 years ago

    They shout aloud about respect,
    In the next breath say what they reject,
    What is left of their sincerity,
    When they would assassinate individuality?
    Yet they maintain this contradiction,
    They justify in the name of the nation,
    How the needs of the many are almighty,
    Which only leaves me with this inquiry:

    Did you not create the notion of conformity?
    Sought to rid people of their freedoms,
    In the name of what you would have as morality,
    As sponsored by your organised religions?
    To impose what you perceive as decency,
    With words you wrote in the name of your creation,
    I will never be so weakened to believe blindy.

  • oreillymj #13 3 years ago

    Anyone know what landfill all those old disks are going to?

    I'm sure there must be crates of them sitting outside a Sony duplication plant somewhere ;-)

  • monkeylite #14 3 years ago

    I am sure it is somewhere in New Mexico.

  • bigbadbeasty #15 3 years ago

    This whole thing has the stink of a complete PR stunt. It wouldn't surprise me if it was only the promo/beta copies that had 'that' track on it, and the retail version never really did have.

  • Freek #16 3 years ago

    A song putting lines from the Quran to music in LBP. A trailer for a new Halo game containing the words Find Maddie.

    Both have been removed in the last few weeks because they could possibly cause offence.

    But which is more offensive? There's only one way to find out...

    FIGHT!!!!!

    I find that post offensive, I shall e-mail EG and ask them to replace the comments feature with something more sensitive to my needs.
    Edited by 1 at 22/10/08 @ 12:21

  • Lamb #17 3 years ago

    I see nothing compelling about this game although little kids may like the kiddyish characters.

  • number9 #18 3 years ago

    @Lamb
    I agree with you. But this is what I thought about the Wii and see how it turned out at the end!

  • chrisjm #19 3 years ago

    i think greenpeace should get involved and get them to recall the recall, dumping all these disks is more of a waste than offending a few too easily offended individuals

  • Lamb #20 3 years ago

    Number 9, I'm happy you agree with me and no doubt as there is a market for baby food there is also a market for little kids games what I'm suprised at is the people who can string together paragraphs arguing over this game.

  • Fab4 #21 3 years ago

    It's a pity some people have forgotten the joys of being a kid.

  • the_dudefather #22 3 years ago

    Ii ONLY PLAY MATURE RATED GAMES FOR MATURE GAMERS SUCH AS MYSELF

  • Mudo #23 3 years ago

    "Even the BBC have disappointed me. Aren't there more important stories to cover? "

    Well of course there are. And they do. It's not like a major news corporation can only choose one story to cover per week. I've been on the BBC website and found as many as ten news stories!!
    Edited by 1 at 22/10/08 @ 15:26

  • zedzee #24 3 years ago

    Yes, but if someone dressed up their Sackboy as a priest and made him run around in a church graphic, wielding a sword and 'killing' little spikey weeds or similar, no one, especially Mr Harrison, would bat an eyelid.

    It seems that Sony can desecrated Christianity's places of worship left, right and centre (as in Resistance: FOM), yet even the mere mention of a few lines from the Quran is deemed deeply offensive! All that the track does is MENTION lines from the book, it's not saying ANYTHING bad against it or anything else for that matter.

    So why is Sony not treating all religions equally? Why no clear and unreserved apology about the fire-fight in Manchester Cathedral in R:FOM, yet in LBP's case, not only is an apology issued but probably Sony's last chance game at re-establishing itself in the current generation of console wars, as being back on top (because let's face it, it's trailing both Nintendo and MS badly at the moment), is WITHDRAWN from marketing altogether.

    Cowards! Sony just didn't want any burning effigies outside their HQs worldwide or worse still...well, I'll leave that to your imagination.

  • bad09 #25 3 years ago

    zedzee has a point, the word was "tough" when the church complained about a cathedral - a place of worship to "god" being used in a galactic massacre!. But two references to the Qur'an (in a song performed by a Muslim) is deemed to offensive?????

    What is the explanation for that? PC gone mad or a outdated and over-sensitive religon. Personally (no offence people of religion) but I say both ;)

  • browns #26 3 years ago

    The explanation is that this is most likely a whole lot of BS.
    Like some said, I'm having a really hard time believing this story.

  • Les #27 3 years ago

    "What is the explanation for that? PC gone mad or a outdated and over-sensitive religon. Personally (no offence people of religion) but I say both ;)"

    Equal situations should be treated equal. The beauty of life is that very, very rarely situations turn out to be equal. For one thing, Resistance had been out on the streets for quite some time already. A total recall would have been impossible.

    As for the rest, it's impossible to judge whether one situation is more sacrilegious than the other as logic doesn't venture in the realm of religion. What we can say is that nobody got hurt or killed because of the Resistance thing so apparently Sony handled it adequately. Nobody will know how this thing would have turned out but given the current hypersensitive situation I probably wouldn't have taken the risk even though I absolutely hate this kind of religious censorship.

    One thing we can be sure of, no Western games will future Arabian songs for quite some time... ;)
    Edited by 1 at 22/10/08 @ 21:34

  • Razorus #28 3 years ago

    Well, whether you guys believe his story or not, Mr Harrison is right. As a Muslim, I did not find the song offensive because there is nothing to be offended by. The artist is a Muslim also, and what did was ok. Some Muslims however, are sadly brainwashed and take things to the extreme. Some even believe listening to any music is forbidden. I urge you all to please ignore the crazy ones. Some of us are not actually terrorists.

    On another note, LBP is coming out on my birthday! Yaaay!!

  • bonker #29 3 years ago

    "Anyone know what landfill all those old disks are going to?
    I'm sure there must be crates of them sitting outside a Sony duplication plant somewhere ;-) "

    India sent them to the moon?

  • bonker #30 3 years ago

    "Well, whether you guys believe his story or not, Mr Harrison is right. As a Muslim, I did not find the song offensive because there is nothing to be offended by. The artist is a Muslim also, and what did was ok. Some Muslims however, are sadly brainwashed and take things to the extreme. Some even believe listening to any music is forbidden. I urge you all to please ignore the crazy ones. Some of us are not actually terrorists.

    On another note, LBP is coming out on my birthday! Yaaay!! "

    Good for you.

    Hard to ignore the extremists though when they're eroding my liberty ...

  • wayneh #31 3 years ago

    @Razorus

    +1 fella hope you have a good birthday. Pity the extremist minority ruins the good name of your chosen religion.