Responding to a question in a Slashdot interview regarding whether or not Sony would release firmware updates to put a stop to homebrew development, Harrison said, "I fully support the notion of game development at home using powerful tools available to anyone. We were one of the first companies to recognize this in 1996 with Net Yaroze on PS1. It's a vital, crucial aspect of the future growth of our industry."
The Sony boss also revealed that he had dabbled in homebrew himself on the Commodore 64, before entering the videogame industry in the early-1990s. "When I started making games on the Commodore 64 in the 1980s, the way I learned to make games was by re-writing games that appeared in magazines. Really the best bit about a C64 was when you turned it on, it said "Ready?" with a flashing cursor - inviting you to experiment. You'd spend hours typing in the code, line-by-line, and then countless hours debugging it to make it work and then you'd realise the game was rubbish after all that effort!
"The process itself was invaluable in helping me learn to program, to design graphics, animations or sounds, and was really the way I opened doors to get into the industry," he added. "Now, those industry doors are largely closed by the nature of the video game systems themselves being closed. So, if we can make certain aspects of PS3 open to the independent game development community, we will do our industry a service by providing opportunities for the next generation of creative and technical talent."
However, Harrison was keen to point out that despite its liberal attitude towards homebrew, Sony would fight back against piracy and illegal hacking, acknowledging that the company, "Still has to protect the investment and intellectual property rights of the industry."
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