They are a sign that Allan Beckers touch is still very much alive, according to David Jaffe, creator of God of War and Twisted Metal. Jaffes comment comes as part of a TwitLonger post which begins, Very proud this week of Allan Becker, my former Sony boss and the man who started Sony Santa Monica.
Jaffe describes him as instrumental in kick-starting his career and credits him for spearheading some of Sonys biggest games, from bringing Gran Turismo 2 to the US to pushing God of War, Flower and Twisted Metal: Black. Becker is now head of Japan Studio after a very, very successful run as the SM studio head.
Rain and Puppeteer are the first two titles to come out of the revamped Japan Studio under Beckers leadership, and Jaffe wanted to give him a shout out, since the press NEVER covers him (which is prob. how he likes it).
Back in February, Sony Worldwide Studio boss Shuhei Yoshida discussed with GameInformer the changes that were happening at Studio Japan and Beckers role:
But in terms of the state of the studio in Japan, we have a new head of studio, Allan Becker. Hes been with PlayStation from the beginning. He founded Sony Santa Monica Studio. I asked him to move to Japan to instill his philosophy of making games. Hes also bringing these two different cultures together. He started in April last year as the head of the Japan Studio and has already made a big impact.
Judging by Puppeteer and Rain, that big impact has been Becker championing some of Sonys most inventive and stylistic games. Were sure thats a philosophy we can all get behind.
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