Phil Harrison Believes in a Networked Future
By Chris on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 7:23 AM PST In Atari, Game Companies, Games Industry
Making his first speech since being named president of Infogrames, Phil Harrison addressed colleagues roughly half a day later. He and Atari CEO David Gardner talked Monday about “the vision Phil and I have been sharing and really enjoy, the idea of the future of a network-centric gaming world.” Harrison had big words for Atari, claiming the company is “the best opportunity that exists in the industry today to redefine, refocus and re-energise an incredible brand, an incredible group of people towards that networked future.”
Harrison wasn’t overly specific when explaining why he decided to resign from his position at Sony, only saying that “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.”
The two execs seemed very upbeat and tried to get across the fact that they don’t intend to turn Atari into a “big corporate entity,” maintaining that their plans for Atari would be “fun.” The two didn’t even bother to wear suits or ties, prompting Harrison to point out, “As you can see David and I are the suits.” Oh, I see what you did there, Phil.
I must say, I’m very intrigued by Atari now that Harrison is at the helm. Previously, I really didn’t see them as a top tier game developer or publisher. Now, I can certainly see Atari becoming a very important piece of the industry.
