Harrison appointed Atari president

Former SCE Worldwide Studios president to 'lead group publishing and game development into the network era'

Atari has confirmed that former Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison is joining the company as president, looking after group publishing and game development.

Harrison, whose departure from Sony was announced a week ago, will report to recently appointed CEO David Gardner, working with him to help turn Atari into 'a leading online game company'. He will oversee Atari's studios and content development and help attract new internal and external development talent.

Commented Harrison: "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."

Publisher Atari is in the midst of a revamp - it recently signed up other top-tier industry exec and former EA worldwide studios head Gardner to see the struggling firm through what he called a 'reboot'.