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Masami Yamamoto leaves Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio, the latest in a long line of departing creators

That info could have easily been put in the opening post. Not going to another site to read an article, still no idea why we are supposed to care.
You don't have to go to another site to read the article because I had already quoted it all in the OP.

If this thread doesn't interest you then move along to another one.
 
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Expected really. Honestly as an optimist I've taken a pretty grim view to current gaming and the future direction the industry is heading. I have a PS5 (and thankfully all my old systems too), but I'm not filled with confidence as to what Sony is doing and is planning for the future. PC is such a surefire bet for multiplats and uncensored content(for me this matters). I feel so put off by modern gaming that instead of finishing games I've been playing or wrestling with my backlog I've been going old school where most of the raw passion is, when games were actually creative, artistic and most of all fun. Its incredible the diversity of game genres and styles across just about any old system including the failed ones.

My girl and I have only casually gamed lately when the mood catches us and its always something different. Beat 'em ups, schmups, platformers, rpgs, actual couch co-op games. Back when I could beat a game in a single sitting and then wanted to replay the damn thing. The love and care that went into the spritework and animations, which were handcrafted. But mainly we've taken to old movies, old and new anime/manga/doujins and art circles, and especially tabletop rpgs. Where our homebrew game is taking shape and isn't being wrecked by stupid ideologues and politics. I've spent more on the OSR scene than... well I haven't been convinced to spend a single cent for the past few months which is the only time since the last recession that I hadn't bought any games. Frankly very little has convinced me otherwise save for a few Japanese games. Really diggin' Nintendo though, they've still got it. For the most part. Okay I lied I still bought a few games for the Switch. And pc.

I know she and I are just a microscopic drop in the bucket compared to the world, but its disheartening for us to see them seemingly forget the appeal and value of what made the brand strong in the first place. The Nintendo head guy did an interview recently that showed that they not only realize that the big three have been leap-frogging each other each generation in terms of successes and failures, but that they understand and want to continue to grow their brand and characters without ruining the brand with one wrong move. They get it. I respect that. They get consumer allure and appeal. I feel Sony is painting themselves into a corner as a one trick pony. A slow one at that. That relies to much on third party support that may be tempted to focus elsewhere in the future do to certain policies. Us fans of Japanese games may start to congregate elsewhere where we're treated better, which may merely be a fraction of the market, but let us not forget that aside from old pc games some of the first collectors editions I recall were from groups like the rarified Working Designs. But I digress. I wish this guy and all the others who've left or will a brighter future.
Pretty much I agree with you. Although I like to be optimistic about future games and that the industry will continue to see unique and interesting experiences, we just won't see as much of the varied exclusives from both western and Japanese developers within Sony. That said, there is the newly-established independent Bokeh Studio and it'll be interesting to see what they create.
 
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Banjo64

cumsessed
Scenes when Microsoft actually do buy SEGA on (a Wednesday) and end up having a bigger Japanese presence than Sony. In before bUt AtLus aREn’t eveN ThaT GReAt aNYWay.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
People talk about Japan Studio as if it was on the standards of Naughty Dog and Rockstar. Can anyone recall when was the last time Japan Studios developed (not collaborated) a high-quality game that was both a commercial and critical success?
 

CamHostage

Member
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only new games on PS4 Japan Studio were wholly responsible for were two Knack games, two Gravity Rush games, The Last Guardian, and the 12th Everybody's Golf game.

Everybody's Golf was made by ClapHanz, a tightly-aligned-to-Sony studio (they've never produced a title for any other publisher) but still an independent.

So, the recent record of Japan Studio development projects is actually a little more bleak even. When you count back in the co-producer work, Japan Studio has a much brighter track record (although even that was spotty in the PS4 and even PS3 era,) and Yamamoto was one of those producers, so we will have to see if Sony finds those developers to make big Japanese games without in-house producers. Developers at Japan Studio, though, must have known for a long time now that a third Knack was not happening and that the rumored RaySpace project was either a new beginning or an ultimate end for the office.

It's a tragedy for me, but mostly because I have been pining for Japan Studio to save itself for two console generations now, and it just never happened. (The studio thrived on PSP and was strong on Vita, but that road of portables ended, and the studio was never able to find its place again.) I can't look at my game collection and the Sony Japan portfolio listing and ask, "Why did this happen?!" Sadly, the ending of a tragedy is rarely a surprise.
 
Oh wow that's some amazing spinning right there buddy to once again push a fanboy agendas and console wars.Congrats!

The real hypocrites are people who never bought a single Sony Japan game (and i mean on day 1 not when it ended up on deals or when their prices hit rock bottom) and now are pretending they are sad about them and how "Sony hates Japan".I bet some of those people who are suddenly so "concerned" about Sony Japan never even had a Playstation.

With all respect;

First, dont put words on my mouth, don't even try to be my brain. Videogame "ideology" ? Try with others, not with me.

Second, i said about what i saw here. Lots of praise to Sony JPS. Fact.

Third and last, im concerned about PlayStation and japanese games, i said here multiple times. I love my PlayStation consoles because of the large support to japanese games. I don't care about Sony or any piece of plastic, i follow games, i ate the food, not the plate.
 
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sublimit

Banned
With all respect;

First, dont put words on my mouth, don't even try to be my brain. Videogame "ideology" ? Try with others, not with me.

Second, i said about what i saw here. Lots of praise to Sony JPS. Fact.

Third and last, im concerned about PlayStation and japanese games, i said here multiple times. I love my PlayStation consoles because of the large support to japanese games. I don't care about Sony or any piece of plastic, i follow games, i ate the food, not the plate.

What does praising for Japan Studio has to do with not giving a shit if a producer who we didn't even knew his name leaves or stays with the studio? The real hypocrism is pretending that this is some mindblowing event.

A lot of people who are making things like this a big deal are the same ones who were celebrating when Ueda was leaving from Japan Studio because back then exclusives were "anti consumer" and his games should have been enjoyed by everyone even if the same people who were saying that had never bought ANY of his games.
These are the same people who are celebrating that MS got Tango Gameworks through the Bethesda deal even if they never gave a shit about them before. Because if they did games like The Evil Within wouldn't be sold dirt cheap so close after their realease.

I'm not saying that Playstations fans are not to blame either. The hard fact is that the true fans who bought games like The Last Guardian and Gravity Rush on day 1 were very few. Same goes for previous generations with games like Siren Blood Curse,Puppeteer and others. Even Bloodborne. People voted with their wallets that they prefer to get the latest Western blockbuster with photorealistic graphics be it Sony or multiplatform.

This doesn't mean that the fans (or the lack thereof) are the only factors to blame for the restructuring of Japan Studio (the changing market as well as Sony themselves are also to blame) but lets not pretend that not giving a shit that a producer no one knew about leaving Sony Japan makes "hypocrites" those who used to buy SCEJ's games day 1 and who are still praising their legacy.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
I loved Tokyo Jungle.
Hopefully Sony is replacing these guys and keeping there Japanese studios??
But games like Bloodborne would be fine without them
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
bAjxhTH.gif

Heard of kojima and myzamaki or what his name is, but sure never heard about him? Anything special?
 
I mean, Japan Studio's inevitable death hurts, and I enjoyed playing even some of the more "recent" games like Puppeteer, Tokyo Jungle, and Gravity Rush 1, but is their loss really going to be felt? IMO, TLG and GR2 were nothing more than badly-designed trash. People saying "but Bloodborne" need to open their eyes: it was almost completely developed by From, Sony just own the IP and nothing is stopping them from collaborating on a sequel or something similar again with From in the future.

Other than that, all of their recent titles (again, saying this is being quite generous as their output has been quite dross these last few years) have just not been up to standard. It kind of reminds me of Rare after releasing Conker. Some people here are insane, even comparing them to Nintendo? lmao get a grip, you melons.
 
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No, single player is important. It makes publishers plenty of money. God of War, Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima, Naughty Dog single player games are super important for Sony.

But how many AA efforts from Japanese studios make little to no splash when games like Deep Rock Galactic, Valheim, Fall Guys, Among Us etc are lighting the charts on fire?

Bloodborne was Sony Japan's last big hit and it sold ~3 million copies after 7 years on the market, after numerous price drops? Sony needs to invest in AA hitters who can knock it out of the park. Father time is undefeated and the industry rolled past Japan.
So you're saying Sony will invest into more MP-centric games? Because that's what a lot of those games are; at the very least they have very natural MP jump-in/out communities, that's not something most of Sony's marquee titles outside of Gran Turismo have.

Also let's not pretend like Sony haven't given the greatest of marketing pushes for games like Gravity Rush 2; they didn't and that impacts sales potential more than almost anything else.
 

Mabdia

Member
Well... I'm doing a survey of prices for PC componets for the past week. The Playstation that I used to love just does not exist anymore. There is some Studios worth within it, yet. That's why I'm happy to see some of these games on PC.
 

Chessmate

Banned
Jim Ryan is a true magician. When you think there are no more rabbits left in his hat, he pulls out another one that leaves Sony. 🧙
 
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Jeeves

Member
I bought a PS3 specifically to play Tokyo Jungle.

For me, Japan is largely the only bright spot in the game industry so it's a bummer to watch their presence continue to fade. No idea why this would be handwaved by anyone besides console warriors not wanting to show weakness.
 

SSfox

Member
And people were complaining about Ken Kutaragi smh, enjoy your Jimbo and Clown Hermen now
 
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I miss Sony management team during the early days of ps4.
Andrew House, Jack Tretton, Shuhei Yoshida, Shawn Layden, even "that dude" Kevin Butler...that was some great stuff.

I'm still interested to read on Layden's fuller reasons for leaving some day, I'm starting to think some of it at the very least was fueled not just in contention with Jim Ryan taking over but also possible plans for downsizing/shuttering Japan Studio and merging the international brands that Layden probably didn't agree with.

In any case I'm looking forward to see what they do with Japan Studio going forward.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
So you're saying Sony will invest into more MP-centric games? Because that's what a lot of those games are; at the very least they have very natural MP jump-in/out communities, that's not something most of Sony's marquee titles outside of Gran Turismo have.

Also let's not pretend like Sony haven't given the greatest of marketing pushes for games like Gravity Rush 2; they didn't and that impacts sales potential more than almost anything else.

Sony should, and maybe they are, follow the Blizzard formula of highlighting genres with potential, that suffer from a lack of production values.

Marry The Last of Us with Rust. Look at Among Us, Valheim etc and create big fleshed out, more polished PlayStation exclusives inspired from these templates.

I don't buy the "Gravity Rush 2 failed because Sony didn't market it". Sony's a smart company who probably did internal testing and found (way too late in the process) that GR2 wasn't going to appeal to very many people.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
I wouldn't mind if Sony Japan is turned into a studio for bigger Astro's Playroom kind of titles
 

Entroyp

Member
Just give team asobi all the resources they need. Every other studio has sucked ass for many many years.
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
How it's not the fault of Japan Studio? Then who is to blame for the release of the two Knack games? Who is to blame for Gravity Rush 2 being an underwhelming PS4 title plagued with game design from the PS2 era? And who is to blame for all the cancelations? Because Gavin Moore (Puppeteer, 2013) and Tsutomu Kouno (LocoRoco 2, 2008) spent the entire PS4 generation working on stuff that didn't even managed to get revealed at all.

How can you defend such a mess of a studio? If they were so worth-having, they would've release RaySpace or whatever other game two years ago to worldwide commercial success, but they didn't because they failed time and again, and in the end they got what they deserved.

Just like Evolution, just like Zipper Interactive.






And you know that im right
 
What does praising for Japan Studio has to do with not giving a shit if a producer who we didn't even knew his name leaves or stays with the studio? The real hypocrism is pretending that this is some mindblowing event.

A lot of people who are making things like this a big deal are the same ones who were celebrating when Ueda was leaving from Japan Studio because back then exclusives were "anti consumer" and his games should have been enjoyed by everyone even if the same people who were saying that had never bought ANY of his games.
These are the same people who are celebrating that MS got Tango Gameworks through the Bethesda deal even if they never gave a shit about them before. Because if they did games like The Evil Within wouldn't be sold dirt cheap so close after their realease.

I'm not saying that Playstations fans are not to blame either. The hard fact is that the true fans who bought games like The Last Guardian and Gravity Rush on day 1 were very few. Same goes for previous generations with games like Siren Blood Curse,Puppeteer and others. Even Bloodborne. People voted with their wallets that they prefer to get the latest Western blockbuster with photorealistic graphics be it Sony or multiplatform.

This doesn't mean that the fans (or the lack thereof) are the only factors to blame for the restructuring of Japan Studio (the changing market as well as Sony themselves are also to blame) but lets not pretend that not giving a shit that a producer no one knew about leaving Sony Japan makes "hypocrites" those who used to buy SCEJ's games day 1 and who are still praising their legacy.

Don't underestimate people's intelligence.
Who told you that nobody knew him? You?
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
How it's not the fault of Japan Studio? Then who is to blame for the release of the two Knack games? Who is to blame for Gravity Rush 2 being an underwhelming PS4 title plagued with game design from the PS2 era? And who is to blame for all the cancelations? Because Gavin Moore (Puppeteer, 2013) and Tsutomu Kouno (LocoRoco 2, 2008) spent the entire PS4 generation working on stuff that didn't even managed to get revealed at all.

How can you defend such a mess of a studio? If they were so worth-having, they would've release RaySpace or whatever other game two years ago to worldwide commercial success, but they didn't because they failed time and again, and in the end they got what they deserved.

Just like Evolution, just like Zipper Interactive.
Sony is to blame for not marketing their games properly, Gravity rush 2 may have had a friendly rivalry with Breath of the Wild as best game of the year, but Sony as always, spoils the opportunity to do nonsense like showing at E3 A No mans Sky for example or the teaser of a normal game like Days Gone.
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Shadow of the Colossus? Neat game made by creatives (Fumito and such) who left Japan Studio nearly a decade ago and remade by Bluepoint Games 13 years later.
90% of Japan Studio are great, but people should know that these games are awesome, and not piece of shit like free fire or similar games.
 
Demon Souls wasnt made by western developer( but the remake yes )
You know what's ironic is that the PS3 version was published by Namco Bandai and Atlus in Europe and North America, because Sony didn't believe it would be successful outside of Japan. Of course, Sony would publish the Demon's Souls remake, given all of the sequels and spiritual successors' commercial success.
 
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sublimit

Banned
It's basically a sign that the days of quality Japanese PlayStation 1st party exclusives are coming to an end, as the company focuses its attention westwards.
The signs for that though were obvious since the second half of the PS3 era. Back in the Xbox360/PS3 era the market voted with their wallets that they prefered Western AAA "photorealistic" games over Sony's Japanese "weeboo" games and Sony slowly started to respond.

Even when Sony could have easily stop the development of games like The Last Guardian and released one of the best games of the generation,many of the same people who are now "crying" over the loss of people they had never heard before were mocking the game saying crap like " it's a PS3 game", "the controls suck", "Trico doesn't listen to me" etc etc.

After such negativity and low sales i'm honestly surprised they lasted so long. I still believe that it's a mistake for Sony to scale down Japan Studio since even if they didn't had the sales of their Western studios they also didn't had their budgets as well. So in that regard i think they could afford to have a strong and more "unique" and "artistic" studio even if it wasn't that much profitable. The variety and critical acclaim it added to their portfolio was more important than its sales.
 
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