Well, it's official people.  Phil Harrison formerly of Sony will be heading to Atari's parent company Infogrames.

Check out the full press release below:

 

PHIL HARRISON APPOINTED PRESIDENT (DIRECTEUR GENERAL DELEGUE) 

AT INFOGRAMES AND JOINS THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Former President of Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment, with 

World Class Gaming Expertise Joins Infogrames to Lead Group Publishing and 

Game Development into the Network Era 

Lyon – France, March 3, 2008 – Infogrames Entertainment announces today the 

appointment of Phil Harrison as President and Directeur Général Délégué of 

Infogrames Entertainment, reporting to David Gardner. Phil Harrison also joins the 

Board of Directors 

With the recent appointment of David Gardner as CEO, Phil and David will 

together form the basis of a transformational leadership team at Infogrames 

that will grow the Atari brand into a leading online game company.  Phil 

Harrison will oversee the Studios and content development for the group. Phil 

will be in charge of boosting the Group’s publishing activities, notably through 

reinforcing its franchise portfolio of products, developing its new packaged 

and online games, and strengthening its internal and external studio capability 

through attracting world-class design and development talent to the 

organisation. 

David Gardner, the CEO of Infogrames, declared: “I am pleased to welcome Phil to 

Infogrames. He has an outstanding reputation in the industry, as one of the key 

leaders behind the success of PlayStation.  We have been seeking an opportunity to 

work together for some time and I am certain he will be able to make a significant 

contribution to the publishing strategy of the Group. 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.  I want to work with 

people that understand fun for consumers and fun in the company culture.  We’re 

going to have a lot more of both around here with Phil!”  

Regarding his appointment, Phil stated, “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.” 

 

This lines up with the rumors that have been floating around the net this past weekend.  It should be interesting to see how this works out for him and for Atari.