Phil Harrison Predicts Gaming's Future

Nothing like a floating head to make you believe a prediction.

Phil Harrison used to work at Sony, then took a spin at Atari before ending up as a venture capitalist. He had some interesting things to say at the GDC when IndustryGamers interviewed him (the whole article is worth a read). Basically, he feels that none of the big companies are successfully managing the transition from being packaged goods centric to network service centric.

He's skeptical that the leaders of mobile and social gaming will be the same companies that lead in packaged goods. I am somewhat less skeptical, but only if you look at a longer time frame. Large companies have more resources to throw at the situation, and thus in the long run they should be able to compete well.

I think EA is doing a pretty good job so far, but they do have a tremendous job ahead of them. It's tough to maintain profitability while completely changing your business model. I do give them points for trying, though. Activision just seems to be figuring that they can make money from Call of Duty sequels forever, and don't need to worry about all this virtual goods stuff or mobile or social games. If Blizzard ever stumbles, Activision is going to be in a world of hurt.