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Sony Japan Studio starting up several new titles; equal effort on new IPs and sequels

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privitsan02

Member
To be honest I haven't been that impressed with them in a long time. Gravity Rush and The Last Guardian are the most interesting thing they've done since Patapon and Shadow of the Colossus for me and their best work has always been collaborations with 2nd party developers for games like Rogue Galaxy, Bloodborne or Demon's Souls.

I'd like to see them try their hand at a AAA title but I also wouldn't want to rob them of their qualities and strengths. If not, I'd love to see them give Gravity Rush another go. Have yet to get the latest one, but too many games lately.

Best wishes.
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
I really wish they'd managed to pull things together a few years ago so they could've done a bit more on Vita.

Then again, I don't think we'll really get any niche things like Tokyo Jungle or Rain from them any more under the way Sony is managing its studios these days, so it's swings and roundabouts I guess.
 
B

Blackleg-sanji1

Banned
The lack of ape escape in here hurts my heart
Ps.
Where's ape escape 3 ps2 classic
060116_apeescape3_05.jpg
 
T

Trago

Member
What the hell is stopping them from developing a JRPG? Japanese games are actually selling on PlayStation. So the fuck what if third parties are making them? A AAA JRPG from Japan Studio wouldn't even be very risky imo. The genre is proven and I think it's time for them hit us with a big blockbuster title that can stand next to Horizon and Uncharted.
 
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endlessflood

Member
jett said:
This is frankly the oddest of Sony's studios. They seem to do whatever they want and seemingly run entirely unchecked. Polyphony is like that too, but they have actually earned that.
Click to expand...
If you look at their headcount vs their output, they are Sony's most disappointing studio by a country mile. It's a shame that great studios like Evolution are gone while Japan Studio sucks up so many resources for such comparatively little output.

I appreciate that their output is quite unique stuff, which brings a lot of value in terms of differentiating the platform from the competition. But the actual volume and quality of their output in comparison to their enormous headcount is still terrible.
 
C

Catalix

And on the sixth day the LORD David Bowie created man and woman in His image. And he saw that it was good. On the seventh day the LORD created videogames so that He might take the bloody day off for once.
Jumping Flash and Ape Escape when??
 
L

LiquidSolid

Member
Trago said:
What the hell is stopping them from developing a JRPG? Japanese games are actually selling on PlayStation. So the fuck what if third parties are making them? A AAA JRPG from Japan Studio wouldn't even be very risky imo. The genre is proven and I think it's time for them hit us with a big blockbuster title that can stand next to Horizon and Uncharted.
Click to expand...

Just because you tell yourself it wouldn't be very risky, doesn't mean it wouldn't be.

And what do people even mean when they say "AAA JRPG"? FFXV kind of production values? If so, lol. Never going to happen. Japanese games like Nier Automata and Persona 5 have been selling well but nowhere near that well.
 
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Nightengale

Member
Trago said:
What the hell is stopping them from developing a JRPG? Japanese games are actually selling on PlayStation. So the fuck what if third parties are making them? A AAA JRPG from Japan Studio wouldn't even be very risky imo. The genre is proven and I think it's time for them hit us with a big blockbuster title that can stand next to Horizon and Uncharted.
Click to expand...

1. Risk
2. Creative Intent ( are there any leads there with ambitions to make a big JRPG? )
3. RISK
4. Opportunity Cost ( will JRPG mega-project sell more than 3-4 separate internal projects)
5. R I S K
6. Differentiation Factor ( assuming there is a JRPG creative intent, is it at a level/quality that will make it stand-out in the marketplace? )
 
O

orochi91

Member
I want SJS to put out at least one AAA JRPG this gen.

Nintendo is able to push out massive JRPG titles like XBX and XB2 in recent years, so I'd like to see Sony at least attempt to compete with them on that front.

Even MS tried to make one (SB), which unfortunately didn't work out.
 
N

Nightengale

Member
orochi91 said:
I want SJS to put out at least one AAA JRPG this gen.

Nintendo is able to push out massive JRPG titles like XBX and XB2 in recent years, so I'd like to see Sony at least attempt to compete with them on that front.

Even MS tried to make one (SB), which unfortunately didn't work out.
Click to expand...

I do think we might see one eventually, but I doubt internal development is going to be how they'd do it.

Anecdotally, they're going to keep the structure of having multiple internal teams/projects running concurrently and while that is not to say this structure cannot give birth to big games ( many mid-tier Japanese RPGs have an internal team of 100 or less ), it's not the approach you'd go to if you want to make games at the scale of what the other big players do.
 
T

Trago

Member
Nightengale said:
1. Risk
2. Creative Intent ( are there any leads there with ambitions to make a big JRPG? )
3. RISK
4. Opportunity Cost ( will JRPG mega-project sell more than 3-4 separate internal projects)
5. R I S K
6. Differentiation Factor ( assuming there is a JRPG creative intent, is it at a level/quality that will make it stand-out in the marketplace? )
Click to expand...

I say Sony bite the bullet and take the risk. Get something ambitious out there. They're pretty much on top of the world right now. Maybe I'm selfish, but I want something big and crazy out of Japan Studio.
 
Z

Zukkoyaki

Member
While it would be cool to see Japan Studio make a major JRPG, there's not really a point. Nearly every third party JRPG of note ends of on PlayStation platforms anyway and a major JRPG would be extremely risky, need a ton of manpower and probably take 3-5 years to develop.

I'm fine with them cranking out a ton of AA releases and evidently Sony is as well. Stuff like Knack, TLG, Gravity Rush and their collaborations do a great job of filling in holes and adding spice to the PS4's library.
 
K

KillLaCam

Banned
MAKE BLOODBORNE 2. I DONT WANT OTHER EXCLUSIVE FROM SONY




Maybe a good JRPG that isn't super anime though. That'd be great
 
T

Trago

Member
Zukkoyaki said:
While it would be cool to see Japan Studio make a major JRPG, there's not really a point. Nearly every third party JRPG of note ends of on PlayStation platforms anyway and a major JRPG would be extremely risky, need a ton of manpower and probably take 3-5 years to develop.

I'm fine with them cranking out a ton of AA and evidently Sony is as well.
Click to expand...

We've been getting mid tier games out of them for a long time though. I want that 'FUCK YOU HERE'S OUR AAA BLOCKBUSTER' or something. At least give them one. Nearly all the other major Sony studios have been pumping out the big games.
 
K

klee123

Member
Yeah, it's disappointing that Sony doesn't really have their own Jrpg series like Nintendo do.

They need to have an in house team to dedicated to jrpgs, like Nintendo does with Monolith.

People mention about costs and risks, but Nintendo has no problems with a game like Xenoblade and that would be lucky to do a million in sales. An open world jrpg with the visual fidelity of XCX in 1080P would still look fantastic on PS4 with a similar budget.

Outsourcing to third parties wouldn't be feasible either because you'd get a situation like Bloodborne when the game does become a hit,where even if Sony wants a sequel, From may not be so keen at all.
 
T

Trago

Member
klee123 said:
Yeah, it's disappointing that Sony doesn't really have their own Jrpg series like Nintendo do.

They need to have an in house team to dedicated to jrpgs, like Nintendo does with Monolith.

People talk about costs and risks and such, but Nintendo has no problems with a game like Xenoblade and that would be lucky to do 1 million. An open world jrpg with the visual fidelity of XCX in 1080P would still look fantastic in PS4 with a similar budget.

Outsourcing to third parties wouldn't be feasible either because you'd get a situation like Bloodborne when the game does become a hit,where even if Sony wants a sequel, From may not be so keen at all.
Click to expand...

Plus Sony is absolutely killing it with their market lead. What's wrong with a 'risk' here and there?
 
E

Exploratory

Banned
Sony stays winning tbh. It's getting to the point where it's kind of ridiculous. Everything from niche JRPGs to fuckin Spider-Man.
 
F

fhqwhgads

Member
Now let's just hope Sony actually gives a damn about the games and doesn't send them out to die with no marketing when they're ready.
 
CamHostage

CamHostage

Member
With Sony Japan Studio being so low in production for years besides PSP output, I'm not sure what their sequel IP would be besides Knack. I would love to see more Puppeteer, but it's already well forgotten sadly, and there's little on PS3 of theirs that would be a core title today.

Patapon and LocoRoco stand a good chance of coming back, though; the remakes are I believe a reinvestment in the brands (less so for Parappa though.) ANd Sarugechu/Ape Escape always has a chance of another comeback.
 
D

DangerMouse

Member
Hyped and can't wait.

Wereroku said:
I think a new Wild Arms could actually do well with it's open world and wild west themes.
Click to expand...

Yep. I think it would still stand out a ton really nicely.

klee123 said:
Yeah, it's disappointing that Sony doesn't really have their own Jrpg series like Nintendo do.

They need to have an in house team to dedicated to jrpgs, like Nintendo does with Monolith.

People mention about costs and risks, but Nintendo has no problems with a game like Xenoblade and that would be lucky to do a million in sales. An open world jrpg with the visual fidelity of XCX in 1080P would still look fantastic on PS4 with a similar budget.

Outsourcing to third parties wouldn't be feasible either because you'd get a situation like Bloodborne when the game does become a hit,where even if Sony wants a sequel, From may not be so keen at all.
Click to expand...

Agreed, that's still my one main disappointment while they were expanding their studios, it's the one thing I feel like they're missing. That despite the popularity of the genre on their platform and pretty regular dabbles into the genre that they never established a JRPG studio to aim for what Monolith is doing for Nintendo, even more so after Nintendo bought Monolith so now they have their own really good one already, while the genre still does especially good business on Playstation as well, and they have done some great installments in the genre in the past both with first party, co-productions, third parties, and even once building a team for Legend of Dragoon, and are of course always eager to partner with S-E on promoting their big ones, which could easily still continue.
 
CamHostage

CamHostage

Member
privitsan02 said:
To be honest I haven't been that impressed with them in a long time.
Click to expand...

The studio has been scattershot for years, which is why bringing on Allan Becker in 2013 was supposed to turn things around. We haven't seen much fruits of that yet (though to be fair, SCEI/Sony Japan Studio does a lot that doesn't register in America), but hopefully we're due to see the studio emerge and show its work.

privitsan02 said:
... their best work has always been collaborations with 2nd party developers for games like Rogue Galaxy, Bloodborne or Demon's Souls.
Click to expand...

Well, that's generally how Japanese publishers work (lots of publishing studios are credited for their satellite studio work, but there's a particular history in Japan as even homegrown hits Donkey Kong and Dragon Quest are not homegrown necessarily.) They have producers who are core to the design and development, but external studios code and create the product. I'm not sure how much internal staff Sony Japan has, but already they're using Bluepoint (for good reason) to do the other big SIE Japan project besides Knack 2, so I would imagine we'll see more shared productions, and hopefully they've still got great studios in the rolodex as they have in the past.
 
P

Philippo

Member
Good to know.
Hope it things coming by the end of the gen.
But i'd also guess Sony is starting to work on a big japanese title for when their next console launches.
 
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