PS5: Japan Studio closed because the double-A market has ‘disappeared’, says Shuhei Yoshida
The former SIE president says the market became “really difficult” for the types of games Japan Studio made
Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida says the market became “really difficult” for Sony Japan Studio-style games, which contributed to the studio’s closure.
Yoshida, who left PlayStation earlier this year after a 30-year career, has given several interviews about his time at PlayStation. The latest comes from the Sacred Symbols PlayStation Podcast.
When asked about the closure of PlayStation’s Japan Studio, and fan perception about PlayStation losing its Japanese influence, Yoshida claimed that it was the market that dictated Sony‘s shift in focus away from Japan Studio IP.
“During my time, people give me credit, but one of the things I was not successful at was having a successful service game, and the other thing is I was not able to have amazingly successful games made in Japan,” Yoshida explained.
“Other than Gran Turismo, we had many great products but didn’t really have many triple-A-level successful products. That became more and more important as the big games became bigger – the indies filled the gap and the double-A market seems to have disappeared,” he told the Sacred Symbols + podcast.
“Most of the IPs that Japan Studio had were in that smaller double-A sized group and the market became really difficult for these kinds of games. For example, after Gravity Rush 2, [director Keiichiro Toyama] tried to come up with a new concept, but we were not able to greenlight any of his new concepts, even though they were really interesting.”
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Speaking more about Toyama, Yoshida said: “In my mind, I remember his product looked like something the company wouldn’t support, the company was looking for triple-A titles, and we really struggled to get the game going. So when Japan Studios was shut down and he became independent, he was able to create and release Slitterhead.”
Yoshida also cites the upcoming Patapon spiritual sequel Ratatan as the type of game that Sony wouldn’t currently make but continues Japan Studio’s legacy.
Sony reorganized Japan Studio into “a new organisation” on April 1, 2021, and the vast majority of its development staff was let go, as VGC had exclusively reported a month earlier.
The iconic developer behind Ape Escape, Gravity Rush and Knack saw the vast majority of its development staff leave after their annual contracts were not renewed ahead of the company’s next business year.
