One of the biggest announcements of the year so far was the one that involved Phil Harrison leaving his role as president of Sony Worldwide Studios, where he'd overseen the creation of brands such as SingStar and EyeToy and was keeping a watchful eye on PlayStation Home, to join the ailing Infogrames/Atari - a company that looked like it only had one life left: Alone in the Dark.
But that decision to join David Gardner began to make more sense with talk of reinvigorating the brand and riding the new wave of casual users - here the two top men, Gardner and Harrison, talk to GamesIndustry.biz and offer more details on their thinking for the company's next steps.
Q: GamesIndustry.biz: What exactly do you mean when you talk about your online titles?
Phil Harrison: There are two things going on which I think will help. One is that the Flash technology is getting better all the time, so there is just a rising tide that means in-browser doesn't mean simple 2D any more. You can have 3D really immersive experiences.
New report from Skillsearch found that 22% of those surveyed had been laid off within the past 12 months.
It's a step forward for Stop Killing Games.
The Callisto Protocol director thinks the solution involves the right people, the right timing, and perhaps a little bit of AI
I don't agree with that. I WISH I could agree with that. But buying habits and customer opinions prove otherwise
We've seen developers in the AAA space try new things and ideas. More often than not, the customers aren't willing to give things a chance, or not enough people buy into the project for it to grow.
Creativity works better in the indie space because the budgets, pressures, and expectations aren't the same.
it's a nice idea and it worked during the PS2/PS3-era when AAA didn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars. smaller budgets and shorter development time left room for more creativity and more risk. a game didn't need to sell 4 million+ copies to break even. things are different now.
This is the guy who bragged about crunching his staff and having them work through the night. Crunch culture has lost more talent and done more damage to the industry than any other factor. Screw him.
the fist to comment out of Kaz Hirai, Sir Ken Kutarigi and Jack Tretton wins an egg!
i hope it pays off for Phil Harrison, Atari and the gamers.
Alone in the Dark looks impressive so far.
It sounds like they're really counting on Alone in the Dark to do well. I sure hope they start putting more content and hype out there, because quite frankly, it sounds like its getting lost between gta, mario kart, and metal gear solid.