Sony's Phil Harrison Leaving for Atari?
Corporations are hostile by nature, so it'd be easy to view news that Sony president Phil Harrison is leaving the company as somehow related to last year's poor PlayStation 3 sales. But the rumor du jour is that he's actually leaving for Atari. Yes, that Atari. The one doing so poorly of late that everyone's written them off as imminently imploding.
It seems Harrison was in fact a cheerleader for the whole casual gaming thing at Sony, and that this bizarrely risky-sounding move may reflect his disappointment with Sony Japan's sluggish engagement of casual gaming. When you evangelize something and no one's listening and then someone else (ahem, Nintendo) comes along and proves your point, it's got to be hideously frustrating.
Treat as unconfirmed at this point, but Harrison gets marquee billing in the press as one of the industry's "most respected figures," i.e. if anyone can rescue the company that's a long way from the one Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded in 1972, he's it. If the rumor turns out to be true, we'll certainly see.
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The spearhead of the poorest launch in Playstation history is going to save Atari? Sure, call me when that happens. No one can destroy a brand better than Phil Harrison. My condolences Atari, you will be missed.
Guys, its not Atari. That was a missprint in the original source (gameindustrynews.biz), which was corrected later in the day. Gardner is CEO of Infogrames, not Atari Inc. Harrison would be joining up at Infogrames.