More Talent Leaving Sony’s Japan Studio; Closure Appears Imminent

[hanselthecaretaker]

Sony Japan Studio is Reportedly Shutting Down, Bloodborne Producer Announces Departure

Bad news for those hoping Sony will do something with the Bloodborne franchise -- the game's producer Masaaki Yamagiwa has left the company.

wccftech.com

Not entirely sure what this could mean for any Bloodborne 2 possibilities. Best hope would be FROM handles it entirely under Sony’s new partial stake in their parent Co.

 

[Chimpzy]

Haven't read the article yet, but yeah, doesn't seem like the studio is in a good place. I remember some of the other departures and something about getting downsized. Shame too. Just had a look the game they've (co-)developed and man, so many cult classics and hidden gems.

I'm guessing that's kind of the problem. From a business perspective, it doesn't make much sense to keep a studio around that's mostly been back-up for other studios and/or creating small quirky games that won't make the big bucks, when current gen, last gen and even the gen before that were mostly about exclusives that were big AAA prestige projects.

 

[Casual Shinji]

That's a shame. Ape Escape and Gravity Rush hold a special place in my heart. So does Shadow of the Colossus obviously, but that's not a game I ever even slightly anticipated a sequel for. I don't know if this means Ape Escape and Gravity Rush won't ever be seen again in any capacity (the former seems like quite a good fit for Insomniac actually).

Bloodborne will be fine, I'm sure.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Apparently, the current PlayStation brain trust under CEO Jim Ryan don’t see Japan Studio games as profitable enough, as they would prefer to focus on major blockbusters with a worldwide appeal like God of War and Spider-Man. Of course, this approach overlooks the fact that much of the PlayStation brand’s personality and soul was forged by Japan Studio games and many people buy PlayStations specifically to play the artier, quirkier stuff.

Fucking capitalism again, always diluting and diminishing art for more profit. It doesn't matter what medium, this one is just a little late to the cannibal table.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Fucking capitalism again, always diluting and diminishing art for more profit. It doesn't matter what medium, this one is just a little late to the cannibal table.

It’s quite something that humans have created a market system that closely mimics biology on a cellular level. The only problem is they never accounted for malignancy.