I'm sorry to see Phil Harrison leave Sony. I thought he was one of the most intelligent and respectable execs they had. Yes, he said some dumb things occasionally, but nothing like the laughable statemets coming out of Jack Tretton or Ken Kutaragi. His work with casual products like SingStar and the Eyetoy haven't gotten nearly the recognition they deserved.
I remember visiting Europe in 2005 and seeing an entire shelf of SingStar games in a store, thinking "wtf are these?!" They didn't exist in America at all, you see, and I had never heard of them before. Games like these did as much to sell the PS2 as the Gran Turismos and Grand Theft Autos of the world. Phil definitely seemed to get that fact, which Sony's Japanese execs genuinely still seem to be missing. His comments last week looked to be coming out of frustration, so my guess is that he chose to walk away from his position rather than continue to fight with the other Sony execs.
Although I'm one of the more critical on this site of the PS3's performance, I thought that Phil Harrison did a pretty good job over the past six months in improving its sales. Kutaragi gave him a very tough product to sell, and he did the best he could with it. The fact that two of the most important figures in Sony's gaming division (Harrison and Kutaragi) have left in the past 18 months speaks volumes about the struggles going on behind the scenes, IMO. I expect that when the story comes out 5-10 years down the road, it will be quite a tale.
Harrison will be missed at Sony. Kaz Hirai is talented, but he's not the right man for this job.
End of 2008 totals: Wii 42m, 360 24m, PS3 18.5m (made Jan. 4, 2008)
