Phil Harrison blames Sony Japan for underestimating social gaming

by Andrew Yoon { Feb 21st 2008 at 10:35PM }

At last year's GDC, Phil Harrison made a platform-saving keynote entitled "Game 3.0." The PS3 was under a serious amount of scrutiny, but surprise announcements of Home and LittleBigPlanet recaptured the hearts and imaginations of gamers worldwide. Harrison envisioned a world of collaborative, social gaming, and admits that Sony Japan had been very reluctant to pursue that vision.

Speaking to GI.biz, Harrison lamented: "And our Japanese colleagues said that there is no such thing as social gaming in Japan – people do not play games on the same sofa together in each other's homes. It will never happen. And then out comes the Wii."
Harrison, who hailed from SCEE before taking over the PlayStation group at large, noted that social gaming is something he tried to promote heavily in Europe. "It's a very interesting and frustrating thing for me to experience because I have been banging the drum about social gaming for a long time, with SingStar, EyeToy and Buzz." Perhaps if Sony Japan had been a bit more understanding, it would meet much greater success than it has faced so far with this current generation of games. Thankfully, things are turning around.

Tags: gdc08fanboy, phil-harrison

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

wocyob @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:06AM

yea i agree with phil alot on this matter... when my friends come over all we really do is play with the eye or play some cod4 online... by taken turns and stuff... we need games that u need a buddy by your side and just play

Haiddasalami @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:46PM

And LBP will be the cure to this. Seriously, make levels with a buddy sitting next to you, play with him/her and build levels as you go along. If they incorporate the EYE somehow, I would spontaneously explode.

parkd @ Feb 21st 2008 11:12PM

LittleBigPlanet will satiate our needs...All hail the SackBoy Overlords!

Chris Rah Osiris @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:33AM

indeed. bring them now

MrEverdred01 @ Feb 21st 2008 11:26PM

It sounds like he's talking about the slow home production in my opinion.

Binaryfiend @ Feb 21st 2008 11:34PM

He must have been a little drunk when he said that. It's not the sort of thing you just hand to the press.

On another note, it is interesting to see this Sony PS3 fight from with-in. First they fire Ken Kutaragi and we hear that a number of hardware features were cut from the final product, now we hear Sony Japan dropped the ball on the social gaming thing. Seems like Sony's mantra of being innovative is being treaded on by some internal pressure or maybe the visionaries just have their timing off.

bleach630 @ Feb 22nd 2008 8:25AM

ken kutaragi Resigns by hemself u idiot

Binaryfiend @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:15AM

Yeah and I'm sure that was all his choice you idiot.

JayVe @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:19AM

bleach630: If you don't believe that Ken Kutaragi was forced out the door and 'told to resign' then I'd like some of what you are smoking. On second thought, I don't want what you are smoking cause it sounds like you might be 'smokin' Sony wang.

This is more proof that Sony really does not understand what customers want. They are so blinded by their own ambition of trying to control the movie format, they didn't even actually consider what CUSTOMERS want, instead focusing on what Sony wants.

Zombie Huggles @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:29AM

Well regardless if he wanted to resign or was "forced" to, it's still different from being fired. I'm a little worried about Sony. I think last years press really got to a few of them, as well as the Wii's success. Hopefully they'll drop an 80+ gig with BC model below 400 soon and that system will sell amazingly well so that Sony doesn't get it in their heads that we all want cheap stunted consoles.

The PS3 is my personal favorite gaming machine. My parents were never rich and definitely not on the front-line of emerging technology, so the Playstation brand has always been a economic way for me to keep up with CD, DVD, and now Internet, Bluray, and various other things. If it wasn't for PS3's Bluray, I'd still be without an HD player...I just can't afford 20 different high-priced items. But one High-priced item with many features is exactly what I need.

herc @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:56AM

He has a point, social gaming is such a perfect way of getting other ppl to get into gaming who aren't necessarily gamers, my friend and I always play Warhawk when we hangout and mess with the ps eye.

I'm surprised that SCEJ would be like especially considering the collectivist nature of the culture.

Bluebreaker @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:15AM

I heard Phil was upset because PS2 in Europe was the social gaming king with all those "football/soccer" and "Singstar" games and he wanted that action over in the States. Honestly, I think it's the high price point for PS3 that separates casual fling vs. commitment. Even if the price is prefectly justified for ALL the stuff a PS3 can do.

Michael @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:36AM

wut? WUT? We played tekken together all night long more then 10 years ago. social gaming? wtf?

justme @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:36AM

game 3.0 AGAIN.. well PHIL may'be even Japan is getting bored with your old stories like I am, what's gonna happen at GDC 09?...Game 3.0 again... I bought this machine based on your promises Phil so what gives. Are you gonna drag LBP and Home around like xbox is dragging Alan Wake and Spore? LAME! And now blame it on the japanese.. sure, like they are holding your stuff back.. Realy think we buy that??? come on, GT5 offers a full online experience and i haven't heart Japan complain about that. Warhawk is ONLY online.. like Home realy so what does he mean Japan is holding online social networking back?.. he must have been DRUNK...again. Sh*** Sony excusses for not beiing able to give the people what they BOUGHT in the first place. FY Phil.

Carlton @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:26AM

I hate getting drawn into an argument with someone that is barely literate, but I think you need to read the article again. The Game 3.0 speech was from LAST YEAR, and your comments on GT5 and Warhawk are completely irrelevant to the topic at hand as nothing was mentioned about "social networking" or online gaming. They were talking about SOCIAL GAMING, and the primary example given was Wii Sports.

justme @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:50AM

..and.. what does SCEA, has to do with SCEJ or SCEE for thst matter, Singstar was a German succes really so what.. Germans are the most social people now? Buzz was a European succes, Sony themselves started the whole social gaming with these games... And then came the Wii... WTF? now that wierd.. I thought XBOX was first.. 2 painfull to admid it I guess. ut last ime it was that story.. "we wanted a xbox like service for the PS2 but dicided to go for the PS3 and do a realy good job"....LOL

justme @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:57AM

No realy if SCEJ where working together with SCEE and SCEA then we would have gotten a SH** load of great japanese titles.. Just look at the japanese PSN store.. IT HAS MORE GAMES!!! not just any game but social games. Japanese love dressing up karakers and even themselves to show of to their friends.. how much more social then dressing up as your favorite karakter can you get Phil??

Carlton @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:45AM

What the f*** is a karaker?!?

russell @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:00AM

i've been thinking about this lately... i don't have NEAR as much fun playing my ps3 alone as i do at my friends house. i have 2 controllers, but i really need to get 2 more. social gaming is the most fun gaming.

JayVe @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:34AM

Phil is distancing himself from Sony corporate. This will help his credibility when Sony 'resigns' him and he has to go out and find another job. He'll be able to say, "Look! I had the whole console war wrapped up with a bow, but Sony didn't listen!"

This is a brilliant move for Phil himself, and I believe him that Sony corporate is slow to react, and slow to understand new ideas. Yet that does not give me any more faith about my wasted 'investment' of a PS3, and how little it will actually meet all the promises that were made when I purchased it.

Jove @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:44AM

man, andrew yoon must be my favorite writter of weblogs. hes such a dedicated fanboy and such a dedicated writter! man hes my favorite of ps3fanboy no dobubt. i mostly read his entries. keep it up yoon! im ur fan!

chibigowang @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:29PM

This may be a complete noob comment. But i think Sony gotten so high in the market they really seem to lost what gamers do want. Like one of the more major pulling points to me for the ps2 back when i was a little gamecube fan, was the fact that they were claiming internet connection to connect me to communities, also that there games for the most part seemed longer. Now that were further and deeper in the console war. It seems that the paths have switched. Nintendo is offering longer games (Or at least it seemed like, That zelda game was longer than balls.... and galaxy also seemed preety far) While ps3 games ironically i was beating them in what seemed one day. Ex. Heavenly Sword, Uncharted. I think its time for Sony to really come back to earth and just find out what gamers want before 360 (Currently Conquering online right now i have to admit) and wii (Conquering Social home family gaming) run ps3 off the map.

Darkdrium777 @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:20PM

I've got to confirm what Phil says, he's been doing that for a long time. While he's not my favorite at Sony (I don't really have a favorite), he has some good ideas, and he's got to keep them coming. Hopefully with what the Wii did to Japan Sony in general will be more keen to let these kinds of innovative games such as LittleBigPlanet come out. Because we, as gamers, want that type of game. Bring on the sackboys :)