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PlayStation has Officially Removed Japan Studio from its List of Studios

Lunatic_Gamer

Gold Member
The PlayStation website has a page that lists each of Sony’s studios, including the likes of Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog and Guerrilla.
As of last month (as spotted by PushSquare and captured by the Internet Archive), the page included Japan Studio in the list, referring to it as “the long-standing talent behind some of PlayStation’s most original titles”.
As the page stands now, however, Japan Studio is no longer present. In its place is Team Asobi, the studio behind the pre-installed PS5 game Astro’s Playroom.

sony-before-after.jpg


 

Corndog

Banned

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
So does this mean Team Ico are dead too? They were part of Japan Studio :messenger_loudly_crying:

Do it, Microsoft! Save them!
Nobody knows. When Japan Studio was shut down, I remember reading Japan studio employees were still going to be part of Asobi. But nobody knows how many people transferred over.
 

Bryank75

Banned
It sucks that they did this.... I really do not agree with the way Jim and Co are running things and there seems to be a huge amount of nepotism / favoritism in how things are being done now.
No communication or openness, so they don't have to be transparent, just act aloof until things go away....

It's really arrogant of them.
 

kanjobazooie

Mouse Ball Fetishist
Too bad. Maybe if they kept making Ape Escape games I would've been their sugar daddy and helped them stay afloat.

Rest in peace, Japan Studio. Ape Escape is the game that will always define PlayStation for me.
 

Varteras

Gold Member
So does this mean Team Ico are dead too? They were part of Japan Studio :messenger_loudly_crying:

Do it, Microsoft! Save them!
Team ICO was gone a long time ago. At least a decade ago. The new independent group that formed was Gen Design who agreed to stick around and help Sony finish The Last Guardian after a very long time of development hell. Epic Games is fully funding their next game which they've been working on since at least 2018.
 

Birdo

Banned
Team ICO was gone a long time ago. At least a decade ago. The new independent group that formed was Gen Design who agreed to stick around and help Sony finish The Last Guardian after a very long time of development hell. Epic Games is fully funding their next game which they've been working on since at least 2018.

:messenger_loudly_crying:(y)
 

Naked Lunch

Member
Just really sad.
Besides Kojima - Japan Studio was the main reason to own Playstation consoles for me.
They were basically Sony's answer to Nintendo in my eyes - with a more mature slant.
Still dont understand why its gone - I never really looked into it.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Its just a rebranding guys. What was formerly badged as Studio Japan output will now be given the Team Asobi monicker.

Much like Studio Liverpool the facility formerly known as Studio Japan will remain in place, but serve as a business and administrative unit as opposed to a development house.
 

JoeBudden

Member
Its just a rebranding guys. What was formerly badged as Studio Japan output will now be given the Team Asobi monicker.

Much like Studio Liverpool the facility formerly known as Studio Japan will remain in place, but serve as a business and administrative unit as opposed to a development house.

More of a restructuring with how resources shifted away from the various studios under Japan Studio, and centralized under Asobi.

Dedicating your resources towards one big release at a time, versus the old format of managing development of multiple releases that often ended up average or mediocre experiences, was a smart move by Sony, despite all the phony crocodile tears in this thread.
 
As they said back in March:
"In an effort to further strengthen business operations, SIE can confirm PlayStation Studios JAPAN Studio will be re-organized into a new organization on April 1," said Sony in a statement. "JAPAN Studio will be re-centered to Team ASOBI, the creative team behind Astro's Playroom, allowing the team to focus on a single vision and build on the popularity of Astro’s Playroom.

"In addition, the roles of external production, software localization, and IP management of JAPAN Studio titles will be concentrated within the global functions of PlayStation Studios."
Unfortunately, for all the complaints there's been about the changes, there just wasn't enough people buying their games.
 
BTW if you're into anime and haven't checked out the first episode of this one on the summer season lineup you should. It tackles some game development themes in Japan.

Bokutachi no Remake
Remake Our Life!

 

SaucyJack

Member
Its just a rebranding guys. What was formerly badged as Studio Japan output will now be given the Team Asobi monicker.

Much like Studio Liverpool the facility formerly known as Studio Japan will remain in place, but serve as a business and administrative unit as opposed to a development house.

This 👆

More of a restructuring with how resources shifted away from the various studios under Japan Studio, and centralized under Asobi.

Dedicating your resources towards one big release at a time, versus the old format of managing development of multiple releases that often ended up average or mediocre experiences, was a smart move by Sony, despite all the phony crocodile tears in this thread.

And this 👆

This was pretty well understood when the announcement was made a few months ago. Restructuring with anything remaining from Japan Studio to be rolled into Team Asobi which is being expanded.

This is just the rebranding that supports the prior announcement.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Lol i remember getting chewed out by gaffers for saying Sony shut them down. I was told they were just being restructured.
Japan Studio was renamed Team Asobi and a bunch of devs were fired. The studio wasn't shut down.

Team Asobi have always been a part of Japan Studio since they began in like 2012.

Renaming the studio and firing people is what restructured means.

Team Asobi's existence means you're wrong. They are still making games out of the same Tokyo office. Just under a new name.
 
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Thief1987

Member
Japan Studio was renamed Team Asobi and a bunch of devs were fired. The studio wasn't shut down.

Team Asobi have always been a part of Japan Studio since they began in like 2012.

Renaming the studio and firing people is what restructured means.
Also they moved former external support team in JS to Xdev Japan umbrella iirc, and actually growing this team, hiring producers, devs etc.
 
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Japan Studio is just Asobi now, the only part that has proven themselves to Sony's high standards.

Sony has a high bar for their studios. If they can't meet it, they'll get cut and replaced by those who can.

It sucks, but it also leads to an extremely high standard for their first-party studios. Games like Gravity Rush and The Order, while decent, won't cut it. Sony will replace them with proven studios like Insomniac and Housemarque. Quality over quantity.
 
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I can imagine that a few people on here mock the game but Astro's Playroom is absolutely the best 3D platformer I've played for a long time, if we get more of that I'll be happy. I know that that the VR only Astro Bot Rescue Mission was supposed to be a fantastic game too but I've not played it.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
Japan Studio is just Asobi now, the only part that has proven themselves to Sony's high standards.

Sony has a high bar for their studios. If they can't meet it, they'll get cut and replaced by those who can.

It sucks, but it also leads to an extremely high standard for their first-party studios. Games like Gravity Rush and The Order, while decent, won't cut it. Sony will replace them with proven studios like Insomniac and Housemarque. Quality over quantity.

Lucid is probably having their last chance with their next game after Destruction Allstars before Sony give them a pass and move on to check other studio to acquire.

I can imagine that a few people on here mock the game but Astro's Playroom is absolutely the best 3D platformer I've played for a long time, if we get more of that I'll be happy. I know that that the VR only Astro Bot Rescue Mission was supposed to be a fantastic game too but I've not played it.

Actually only Sony haters mock Astro's Playroom which was a generous masterpiece to be given for free from Sony.
 

ToTTenTranz

Banned
ITT:
- People not aware that Team Ico (Ico+Colossus+Guardian) and Project Siren (Forbidden Siren + Gravity Rush) had long left Sony and formed their own genDesign and Bokeh studios, and they can continue to work on those IPs as independent developers.


As for those still working there, changing the name of one studio doesn't mean shutting it down. These news outlets are just being vultures for clicks based on fake drama.
 
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kyliethicc

Member
Also they moved former external support team in JS to Xdev Japan umbrella iirc, and actually growing this team, hiring producers, devs etc.
XDev Europe is based in Liverpool, England. They've recently been renamed to just XDev and will now work globally.

Japan Studio had some support teams, but they all seem to have been fired.

We have no idea if any XDev staff will work out of Japan. Maybe idk.
 
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BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
Sony really hated Days Gone, huh?

Every other studio got a shout out for their most recent game, then with bend they're like "these fuckin guys work here too"
 

Derktron

Banned
This is what I feared, I hope Microsoft pushes themselves in the Japanese market by getting more support for devs in Japan, the same goes for Nintendo. I would have hope, they would have stayed true to themselves instead of evolving into a Western market. Sony was one of the key leaders for this reason.
 
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