14 DAY TRIAL // Phil Harrison, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, will quit his job by the end of the month, an official press release states. He will be replaced with immediate effect by Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of SCEI. The resignation reasons are unclear right now and they seem to stay that way, but at least no beef between Phil Harrison and Sony seems to have taken place. Still, this sounds like a strange decision for a guy who spent about 16 years with the company. Maybe he just wants to go sip on a cocktail with Bill Gates, who knows...
A little bit of history: prior to the launch of the original PlayStation gaming console, Phil Harrison joined Sony in 1992, which later evolved into Sony computer Entertainment Europe, and since then, he has made a tremendous contribution to the company playing a strategic role in the launch of four PlayStation platforms, as well as building strong relationships with game developers and publishers throughout the world. Since his appointment to the position of president, SCE WWS, Harrison applied his considerable skill, knowledge and expertise to lead SCE Group's first party game development as well as aggressively pursuing the development of new online entertainment experiences. And now he's leaving, pursuing some other interests. Probably.
"The past 15 years at Sony Computer Entertainment has been the defining journey of my life so far," said Phil Harrison. "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."
Well, at least the guy is happy and it doesn't seem that his resignation will have any negative influence on Sony. As we have already said, Kazuo Hirai will be named SCE WWS president and we're probably going to write a new piece of news about him in 14-15 years.