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Hirai: I was surprised by Harrison's departure

Sony CEO didn't know worldwide studios boss would join Atari and Infogrames

President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Kaz Hirai has said he was surprised by Phil Harrison's decision to leave the company and join Atari.

Speaking to ThreeSpeech, Hirai said he didn't know about Harrison's planned move but said he was "very happy for him to take on some new challenges".

"At the time, I didn't know he was going to Atari. It was obviously a surprise when he told me he was going to move on," explained Hirai.

"But, you know, it's a small industry and he's obviously remained in it and from his perspective, it was a great thing to move on to a new challenge. On his last day, I was in Tokyo and I called him, and said I was sad to see him go but, at the same time, I was very happy for him to take on some new challenges."

Harrison moved to Atari parent Infogrames as president in March, where the rebooted publishing outfit intends to make waves in the PC gaming market.