Tag Archives: Phil Harrison

Whilst talking about Unity middleware platfrom in Copenhagen, Atari exec Phil Harrison has said that the reason many games fail is due to going from “concept to production in one jump.”

“Here is my EUR 10 million gift to this room — all of the mistakes I have made in software development have been based around one problem and one problem alone, which is accelerating through this pipeline without successfully and properly satisfying the requirements of each of the stages – and typically it involves going from concept to production in one jump,” said Harrison.

“That’s pretty much the definition of why projects fail — because you don’t know what you’re building, you don’t know how you’re going to build it, you don’t know who you’re building it for, but you’ve got 60 people working on it and they’ve all running in different directions — that’s how most games fail.”

Thanks, Kotaku.

Atari president Phil Harrison has told GI that Sony took “absolutely the decision” in recalling LittleBigPlanet after the company withdrew the game from retail due to complaints about a song that contained two sentences from the Qur’an featured on the disc.

“I wasn’t privy to all of the discussions and debate that went on within Sony, 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,” he went on.

“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.”

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

SCEE’s just issued a statement on the departure of SingStar head Paulina Bozek to Atari – announced this morning – saying she’ll be missed.

“We are obviously very sorry to learn that Paulina will be leaving us,” said a rep.

“She has been a huge part of our family at WWS and London Studio and we wish her all the best with her new challenge.”

The developer has lead the SingStar franchise for years, joining SCEE from Ubi Montreal in 2003.

Bozek will be assuming a role as development director of a new London-based online games studio for Atari.

Update: SCEE just put out a statement on this, saying Bozek will be missed.

Iconic SingStar boss Paulina Bozek has quit Sony to take a job with Phil Harrison’s Infogrames.

Bozek is now development director of a new online game studio at the firm.

“I am very excited to be joining Atari at this pivotal time for both the company and the industry,” said Bozek.

“There is a huge opportunity as gaming platforms become more ubiquitous, more connected and attract more mainstream audiences. Atari has a great vision for the future and I can’t wait to start realising that vision in new products and services.”

Harrison, obviously, is quite pleased.

“This is a significant step in expanding Atari’s online game development capability,” he said.

“Paulina is one of the industry’s most respected creative leaders with an outstanding track-record of commercial and creative success and I’m delighted that she will bring her unique vision, consumer insight and proven ability for creating amazing entertainment experiences to Atari.”

Press release after he break.

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Antoine Villette, founder of I Am Alive developer Darkworks, has told VG247 he believes Alone in the Dark can still be great, but only if Atari is prepared to make radical changes to its format.

“When we took Alone in the Dark in 2001 it was to renew the franchise with names, characters, we tried to put it in a modern base and modernise it a little bit,” said Villette, talking of the Darkworks-developed Alone in the Dark: A New Nightmare.

“Now I think that with this franchise, if Atari wants to do something [further], it has to be a major step towards other things: perhaps other platforms, other game systems, other gameplay.

“Alone in the Dark has this chance to have this fantastic title: they have to work with that. Perhaps to be a little purer about it and move away from what has become the classical survival horror game with Resident Evil, Biohazard, and let it be Alone in the Dark.

“When you forget that there’s been four or five instalments in the franchise, you can do something fantastic with it.”

The last Alone in the Dark game from Eden Studios – still to release on PS3 – wasn’t well received critically, and Atari boss Phil Harrison has already said he doubts another game of its ilk will be greenlit by the firm.

Our ears are so close to the ground they’re all mossy. Highly placed sources told VG247 today that the real reason for Phil Harrison’s departure from Sony was that work is now starting on PS4 and deja vu was setting in.

“He could see he was about to get involved in another PlayStation cycle, and obviously wanted something new,” we were told. “The same thing was happening again and he’d been through it enough times to want to move on.”

The timing of Harrison’s decision to leave Sony confused many, given that PS3 was finally starting to bloom after a troubled seedling period. The PlayStation front-man announced he was to quit in February, giving no reason for the move.

He immediately joined Infogrames as president, saying he was finding the company’s focus on casual gaming and an increased influence on internet business models “very exciting”.

Bet PS4 doesn’t have two HDMI ports either.

Alex Evans, co-founder of Media Molecule has told GI that former Sony head – and now Atari shoulders – Phil Harrison’s influence on LittleBigPlanet’s early days was “completely key and pivotal”.

“Obviously that then transitioned into Sony, and especially the team at Liverpool, and Michael Denny – I don’t want to downplay their roles as well. But certainly with Phil, at the very beginning, the amazing thing was that he got it,” said Evans.

“We pitched much more of a platform game, the physics and so on, and he was very instrumental in telling us to think about what it would mean to have user-generated content – to think about what that means for the community.”

This is where we say “more through the link” and actually mean it.

By Mike Bowden

Atari’s announced that Alone in the Dark is now gold for 360, PC, Wii and PS2.

“With its genre-busting mix of gameplay, wide-screen presentation style and DVD chapter select feature putting the player in control, Alone in the Dark will thrill all gamers,” said Infogrames boss Phil Harrison. “It’s a game which will challenge the player but also reward them with a one-of-a-kind video game experience and a huge amount of fun.”

It’s out on June 20 in Europe. Press release after the link.

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PlayStation mega-boss Kaz Hirai has admitted that he had no idea former Sony worldwide studios president Phil Harrison was moving to Atari until the deed was done.

“At the time, I didn’t know he was going to Atari,” Hirai told ThreeSpeech. “It was obviously a surprise when he told me he was going to move on.

“But, you know, it’s a small industry and he’s obviously remained in it and from his perspective, it was a great thing to move on to a new challenge. On his last day, I was in Tokyo and I called him, and said I was sad to see him go but, at the same time, I was very happy for him to take on some new challenges.”

Harrison decided to leave Sony in February to take on Infogrames’ presidency.

Full interview through the link.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Infogrames president Phil Harrison has admitted he’s a 360 fanboy. Or not. We can’t quite work it out.

“I’ve always recognised its capabilities, so it’s not like I’ve woken up and gone, ‘Ooh, I’m a real 360 fan now.’ I’m in a different part of the industry so I have a different role to play,” he said.

“It’s been a good experience learning about other formats, not just 360 but Wii and DS, and understanding what it’s like to publish games on those platforms and create for those audiences. I’m finding it very intellectually and creatively challenging.”

Harrison was head of Sony’s worldwide studios in his last job. The inner turmoil now he’s moved must be immense.

Talking to the MTV multiplayer blog, Infogrames president Phil Harrison would not say one way or the other if Alone in the Dark PS3 will feature Home and trophy support.

“If the libraries are available, then yeah, I would hope that the PS3 version can take advantage of that,” he told the site.

Alone in the Dark will be available on 360, PC, Wii and PS2 next month with the PS3 version scheduled for “later this year.”

By Mike Bowden

Atari rolled out the red carpet in London last week for its pre-launch showing of Alone in the Dark, flying in a tired-looking Phil Harrison from New York to intro the game and give a few interviews. Talking to the big man is always a pleasure, and this time especially so, given his recent move from SCEE where he’d been ensconced for the past 15 years.

Harrison was in the UK to talk about the Eden action-adventure, but did answer a few questions on what it’s been like to join ex-EA boss David Gardner at Atari, the future of the firm in general, affirmation of his belief that unconnected single-players games are tomorrow’s dodos, and how he’s been busy making a bunch of new friends.

After the link.

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Updating live from the Atari UK Alone in the Dark event in London. After the link.

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Speaking to Gamasutra, Atari games boss Phil Harrison has admitted that Alone in the Dark may well be the final “core” game Atari makes.

“I don’t see that we’re going to be making huge-budget, single-player games in the future,” he said.

“Now, that doesn’t mean that we won’t have ambition to do really incredible games that have high quality, high execution, and high innovation, but they won’t be one-player, narrative-driven, start-middle-end games.”

We’re interviewing Phil later today. Anything you want us to ask him?

According to this Next-Gen report, Sony’s named Phil Harrison’s replacement as president of SCE worldwide studios as Shuhei Yoshida, currently SVP of US studios at SCE worldwide.

“SCE WWS has been developing global hit titles, sharing resources and know-how within SCE Group since its foundation, and we will reinforce our software business by further enhancing coordination among the studios under a new leader,” said SCE boss Kaz Hirai.

“Under the leadership of Yoshida, who has proven track record in managing creative talent, SCE WWS will accelerate the software development for the PlayStation 3 and PSP platforms and vigorously expand the gaming market.”

Infogrames boss David Gardner has told GamesIndustry.biz that the name “Infrogrames” may be ditched in favour of “Atari”.

“I’d like to consider that, I think that would be the final mark of the transformation from Infogrames to Atari,” he said. “We have a new board of directors, a new management team that’s less than a year old – so yes, it’s really continuing.

“We like to think of Infogrames, instead of being the tired, old company, we like to think of it as the best-funded, best-branded, most energetic start-up in the history of computer gaming.”

Plenty more through the link, including quotes from everyone’s favourite games warrior, Phil Harrison.

Infogrames has offered to buy the remaining Atari stock for $1.68 per share. The French firm already owns 51 percent of the ailing game-maker.

Atari signed a new distribution deal with parent Infogrames last December, to last for the next three years. We assume the mov to take complete control of the brand is all part of Gardner and Harrison’s future-forging antics.

Yep, you can watch it. It’s almost like being there. Phil’s looking nice in his shirt and jumper, and David Gardner’s sporting a black polo neck. This was shot in New York earlier this week ahead of an Alone in the Dark press presentation.

Phil Harrison’s given his first speech as president of Infogrames in New York, ahead of a press presentation of Alone in the Dark.

Explaining why he quit his former role as head of PlayStation development, he pointed to “the things that excited me the most, the things that turned me on as a gamer, and as a business person, and as a creative person were the future of our industry, the connected community experiences – all the things we’re starting to see emerge that are really exciting players around the world.

“And those are the things I started thinking about in terms of creating a company or getting involved with a company to really shape and direct a business towards that future.”

Full thing through the link.

Here. A very worthwhile GI piece that tells you everything you need to know about what future-creating BFFs Phil and David have to look back on as history in the Atari brand. Any article that begins, “The original Atari Inc was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney as an arcade engineering firm, dealing in pinball machines and the primordial arcade videogame market,” has to be worth a read.