Phil Harrison takes job at Atari; I eat my hat

This move puzzles me. When I heard the rumors that Phil Harrison had left the job as head of Sony’s worldwide game studios last week to take a job at Atari, I didn’t believe them. Why would somebody do that? An editor suggested I mention the rumor and, smart guy that I am, I said it was so full of baloney it wasn’t worth mentioning. Well, Phil has done just that. Needless to say, I think it’s a terrible move.

He’s going to be president at Infogrames, the French video game company that owns Atari.  Says one Atari veteran, “I was floored when I saw that this morning.” Me too. Atari isn’t in exactly the greatest shape. Kotaku, the game blog, says, “This is insane.” Has Phil jumped off the deep end? CEO David Gardner said he always wanted to work with Phil.

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Bruno Bonnell built Infogrames into a French gaming powerhouse and acquired a number of properties in the U.S., including the Atari franchises. In 2003, he renamed the U.S. subsidiary Atari Inc. But the company hit hard times and Bonnell resigned in April, 2007. In November, the company sold off the franchise rights to many of its games and said it would leave the game design business to focus on publishing and distribution. In February, Infogrames hired David Gardner, an Electronic Arts veteran, to serve as CEO.

“Drawing upon Infogrames’ strong financial foundation, Phil will have the means to attract new talent, develop studio and online capabilities, and drive forward our publishing activities,” said Gardner in a statement.

Phil Harrison said, “This is the perfect time to join Infogrames and help shape the future of Atari — one of the industry’s legendary brands. As the game business moves rapidly online I believe we have an outstanding opportunity to create amazing network game and community experiences for players the world over. I am especially excited to be working on this challenge together with David, one of the most respected leaders and successful executives in our industry.”

I can understand the urge to build something new. But Phil has joined a company with a lot of lost credibility and baggage. And Sony seems like it’s just starting to get its act together on games.