Back last month during GDC, rumours started spreading that Xbox Europe VP, Phil Harrison had reportedly already left or was planning to leave Microsoft. Today, Microsoft have confirmed that Phil Harrison is indeed leaving Microsoft to pursue “interests outside of Microsoft.”
Head of Xbox at Microsoft, Phil Spencer quoted “Following a successful tenure as Corporate Vice President in Xbox in Europe, Phil Harrison has chosen to pursue business interests outside of Microsoft.” He also thanked Phil Harrison for the work he put into Microsoft overseeing the companies European studios. “Phil has been a distinguished leader for our European Xbox team – overseeing production at our award-winning European studios and making a substantial contribution to the Xbox business globally. I want to thank Phil for his creativity and leadership over the past three years. Phil is a great friend of mine and I wish him the very best with his future endeavors.”
Phil Harrison also sent in a statement to GamesIndustry about the exit, “I have enjoyed the last three years at Microsoft enormously and it has been a privilege to lead and work alongside the incredible talent within Microsoft Studios in Europe, including Rare, Lionhead, Lift, Soho and Press Play. I wish them and my many friends throughout the Xbox world every continued success and know that games will continue to prosper across Microsoft under Phil Spencer’s leadership.”
Internally at Microsoft, Harrison wasn’t happy when previous Xbox honcho, Don Mattrick left the company. Harrison joined in 2012, hired by Mattrick at the time when Microsoft started working with a lot of new European studios. Harrison got more annoyed when Satya Nadella promoted Microsoft Studios VP Phil Spencer to lead the entire Xbox division at the company as he also expected a promotion. It’s believed that Harrison demanded a promotion at Microsoft and threatened he would leave the company if nothing was offered to him.
^Alan (@BeetleComet)
Alan Walsh is a games journalist, head writer at AR12Gaming. They contributed 52 articles to ICXM in 2015, focused on game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: leads editorial for AR12Gaming and reviews titles for OpenCritic.