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[IGN] PlayStation Confirms Japan Studio Will be Re-Organized (Asobi only, Sony Globals studios to handle Localization & IP Management for SCEJ titles)

EricTheGamerman

EricTheGamerman

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Aug 12, 2019
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This shouldn't really be surprising to people when just about every single project they worked on sans From Software games in the modern era didn't really do spectacularly. Gravity Rush got two major pushes and while it was a beautiful little series, it just never went anywhere. Knack worked as a launch title for the PS4, but boy the sequel did almost nothing besides become a meme. Puppeteer was also a late life PS3 game that just didn't go anywhere at all. And Ueda has been gone for almost a full decade now. They were always in a supportive role, but over the past few years, even that has vastly diminished. Sony Japan was once a critical component of Sony's success, but it really has been a while and now they've more or less just got Team Asobi and Polyphony Digital as their Japanese studios.

I'd imagine the kind of operation they had would be just best served reallocating resources around and possibly looking into forming a closer partnership with a studio or opening a brand new one. Like I don't think beefing up Sony Japan was ever going to be a super realistic option when not only had the Japanese teams enjoyed extremely limited success for a fair amount of resource investment in the past, but also just how much talent had long since departed from the studio. At some point you'd just be creating an entirely new studio from scratch anyway. Like I do hate it on a personal level and feel for people losing their jobs, but it just doesn't sound like there was much left to begin with.
 

StevieP

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,258
FlikBlueLightning said:
Some seems to think that they should stay open despite not being profitable for the company just because of traditional or something. Games are international more than ever. Like you said, other markets are expanding, businesses have to take advantage of that. The IPs aren't going away and perhaps have a chance of new life with another developer.
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There are other platform holders that are absolutely funding things that are either almost solely focused on the domestic Japanese market, and/or make stuff for their platforms that won't sell massive amounts solely for variety/prestige/the whims of its creator's passions.
 

Deleted member 5593

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Gay Bowser

Gay Bowser

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Oct 30, 2017
17,656
EricTheGamerman said:
Like I do hate it on a personal level and feel for people losing their jobs, but it just doesn't sound like there was much left to begin with.
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Yeah, this decision makes me sad for what it represents more than the actual impact it likely has on PlayStation's lineup going forward. The Japan Studio that made so many of the games that I loved has been gone for a long time.
 
EekumBokum

EekumBokum

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Oct 25, 2017
1,562
Not a fan of modern Playstation. They very clearly have people analyzing what worked for them in PS4 Era since they did so well and are running with it but they don't understand that the PS fan base was built up with A-AAA titles throughout PS1-PS3. They're becoming the Marvel of gaming. Big, stellar, incredible, generation-defining titles and anything less than that is not allowed. I fear for Pixelopus and Media Molecule.
 
Iron Eddie

Iron Eddie

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Nov 25, 2019
9,812
EekumBokum said:
Not a fan of modern Playstation. They very clearly have people analyzing what worked for them in PS4 Era since they did so well and are running with it but they don't understand that the PS fan base was built up with A-AAA titles throughout PS1-PS3. They're becoming the Marvel of gaming. Big, stellar, incredible, generation-defining titles and anything less than that is not allowed. I fear for Pixelopus and Media Molecule.
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I already fear for Media Molecule if they continue down the same path of user creation gaming. It's time to make something different.
 
EricTheGamerman

EricTheGamerman

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Aug 12, 2019
5,159
EekumBokum said:
Not a fan of modern Playstation. They very clearly have people analyzing what worked for them in PS4 Era since they did so well and are running with it but they don't understand that the PS fan base was built up with A-AAA titles throughout PS1-PS3. They're becoming the Marvel of gaming. Big, stellar, incredible, generation-defining titles and anything less than that is not allowed. I fear for Pixelopus and Media Molecule.
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I mean, why would they not focus on what has been successful in the PS4 era? It's modern and relevant data for how to sell over 100 million consoles and they literally did it without "what made them in the PS1-PS2 era" (Not counting PS3 because it was largely the same as the PS4). Like the franchises that once defined the PS1 Sony has almost no control over at this point except for like Gran Turismo and a bunch of their other IPs of that era still don't really attract a ton of attention. Then sure the PS2 era was huge for them, but like, the space for A-AA games did largely start dying out once HD hit and the costs of producing games really starting to skyrocket and become exclusionary.

Like I'm not sure the "PlayStation" of that era could even exist today in any meaningful way. Even Nintendo with their massive catalogue struggles with smaller franchises and they're overwhelmingly in a better position than Sony as a company that can take risks without it mattering much. I think people forget just how much Sony hasn't done like terribly well as a company outside of PlayStation for a while, so they're not going to be the type to take tons of risks or keep pumping money into less advantageous projects.

And again, don't get me wrong, I miss the hell out of the 6th generation, but there's just very little room for what defined that generation in the modern era sadly and no one is making games like they did back then (Microsoft is equally depressing for having virtually nothing of what defined them for me with the original Xbox at this point).
 
Prine

Prine

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Hmmm, Media Molecule have been hiring so hopefully they should be ok.
 
Bebpo

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So what's the deal with Hot Shots Golf, that honestly seems like Japan Studio's only relevant series outside Astro's even if they barely do anything with HSG anymore.

Can Clap Hanz still make a new HSG or does this kill that?
 
Ridley327

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Oct 25, 2017
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Walken said:
I already fear for Media Molecule if they continue down the same path of user creation gaming. It's time to make something different.
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This runs the risk of sounding really, really, really mean, but I'm not sure that Media Molecule has ever been particularly interested in designing anything other than user creation tools. They have such a startling sense of tunnel vision for their projects that makes it so that they're always obsessed about what their games can be in the hands of players that they forgo any pretense about giving a damn about anything about what they need to be right from the jump, and none of the twee arts and craft art direction that they throw at their games makes it any less obvious how un-fun their games are to play. Tearaway is probably the best that they've done from a gameplay perspective, and it still feels like a PS2-era platformer that's been sitting in the bargain bin for at least six months.
 
PlanetSmasher

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Bebpo said:
So what's the deal with Hot Shots Golf, that honestly seems like Japan Studio's only relevant series outside Astro's even if they barely do anything with HSG anymore.

Can Clap Hanz still make a new HSG or does this kill that?
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Clap Hanz can't make "Everybody's Golf" or "Minna no Golf" without Sony, as Sony owns that trademark.

Clap Hanz is instead developing "Clap Hanz Golf" on their own without Sony's involvement, it seems.
 
Incubuster

Incubuster

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Oct 30, 2017
2,260
The end of an era for sure, but their output for the most part hasn't been great and nobody bought their games. They sure do have some interesting IP in the tank, maybe another studio might take a crack at them one day.
 
texhnolyze

texhnolyze

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Oct 25, 2017
23,154
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Man, this is such a tragedy. Their games helped shaping the Playstation brand over the decades.

But we probably saw it coming after their not so great sales and recent exoduses.
 
JuicyPlayer

JuicyPlayer

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Feb 8, 2018
7,297
I absolutely dislike Jim Ryan and wish he could go away , he's given me nothing but bad vibes since he's taken over. Bring back Jack or Kaz.
 
silva1991

silva1991

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Oct 26, 2017
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I didn't get get mad with the other thread, but reading Zhuge tweeet made my blood boil. And no, no other studio is gonna revive those ips. People need to stop deluding themselves.

I cannot stress enough how much I dislike current Sony.

asmith906 said:
Didnt littlebigplanet make a shit ton of money.
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Like a thousand years ago. Their latest games Tearaway and Dreams probably didn't perform better than Sony Japan games.
 
Rex1157

Rex1157

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Man this is depressing. What in the world is wrong with Sony? Others are growing their first party and Sony thinks it's a good idea to cut studios.
 
DreamSurf

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E.T.

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Tiago Rodrigues said:
People blaming Ryan for "running Playstation to the ground" don't even realize the previous CEO also closed down 3 studios. And Ryan alone wouldn't have the power to close down a studio. He could influence that decision but Ryan alone doesn't get to make such a huge call.

People have been trying to blame Jim for basically everything for some reason...yet Playstation as a brand was never this strong.
He just released the first Playstation ever in a quarter where Sony had huge profits. That never happened in the history of this company. And during a pandemic.
He's going nowhere.

Games are selling great, console is doing record breaking numbers, PS Plus subscriptions keep going up.

Funny thing is no one mentions the good things they have also done. He's supposedly responsible for Sony going arrogant again...yet now crossplay is finally not a dirty word for Sony and older games are selling on PC now. Sounds like they've never been this "open"? Also Insomniac was finally acquired, most Sony teams working on multiple games right now instead of one, PS Plus getting actual new games as soon as they come out. Sounds to me their studios have never been in such great shape as well?
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I believe in Jim Ryan.

Great post, pointing out that people are only concentrating on the negatives while ignoring all the great things PlayStation has done and achieved in the industry both historically and recently is apt. Jim Ryan being the fall man is ridiculous, the guy is bad at PR but an excellent business man. His tenure at PlayStation Europe was terrific.

Japan studio titles underperformed, no matter how much I loved some of their output, the titles did not sell. It is quite simple.
 
DreamSurf

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silva1991 said:
I didn't get get mad with the other thread, but reading Zhuge tweeet made my blood boil. And no, no other studio is gonna revive those ips. People need to stop deluding themselves.

I cannot stress enough how much I dislike current Sony.



Like a thousand years ago. Their latest games Tearaway and Dreams probably didn't perform better than Sony Japan games.
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I'm just like stunned. This is all stuff I expect from a company on the brink of shutting down. But Sony is making fucking record money, do they not have room for risks? Do they not have room keeping up games that don't necessarily sell gangbusters?
 
digita1alchemy

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Oct 27, 2017
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Shitcanning the studios in cases like this is always the wrong move. If they were under-performing, then that's on management and that's where changes should be made.
 
DreamSurf

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tmac456 said:
you're on a shit posting roll. bravo.

JS was given opportunity after opportunity. They didn't take advantage of it. Hopefully Sony invests in Team ASOBI because they have a huge potential hit with Astro Bot
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Take advantage of what opportunity? Making millions of sales? Sorry they were concerned with making interesting games. Why do so many people think good for the company = good for consumers. Sony keeping JS and them making games is better than them not. It's not hard.
 
KtSlime

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tmac456 said:
you're on a shit posting roll. bravo.

JS was given opportunity after opportunity. They didn't take advantage of it. Hopefully Sony invests in Team ASOBI because they have a huge potential hit with Astro Bot
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This is speculation. No one knows what kind of funding they received, what kind of ideas they had, if they were turned down or not, etc.
 
Dizastah

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Oct 25, 2017
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Sony is betting big on Astro. By the time a sequel comes out there will be something like 40 million PS4s sold and a lot of people who have played Astro's Playroom. That's a lot of people familiar with Astro.
 
DreamSurf

DreamSurf

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May 27, 2018
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The ps5 library will not possess any unique Japanese games and will probably have an identical lineup to PC in 4 years time.That. Is. Crazy. Like man playstation was SOTC, it WAS ape escape, how do you remove a studio like that even when it underperforms? Playstation is the unique games, when you take that away your taking away the roots of the company
 
DreamSurf

DreamSurf

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Say bye bye to any housemarque and lucid games partnerships. If it ain't 15 million copies it's basically nothing.
 
Modest_Modsoul

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Oct 29, 2017
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What is this "IP management of JAPAN Studio titles will be concentrated within the global functions of PlayStation Studios"? I don't get it...
 
totofogo

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Modest_Modsoul said:
What is this "IP management of JAPAN Studio titles will be concentrated within the global functions of PlayStation Studios"? I don't get it...
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KtSlime said:
Probably means that the people who are still employed will just make whatever they are told, and not be able to come up with their own new IP ideas like they had in the past.
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Nah I'm pretty sure this just means that IP's previously handled by Japan Studio will not necessarily be killed off, but rather dispersed + developed by other developers within the Playstation Studios umbrella.
 
NLCPRESIDENT

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Modest_Modsoul said:
What is this "IP management of JAPAN Studio titles will be concentrated within the global functions of PlayStation Studios"? I don't get it...
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totofogo said:
Nah I'm pretty sure this just means that IP's previously handled by Japan Studio will not necessarily be killed off, but rather dispersed + developed by other developers within the Playstation Studios umbrella.
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I've deduced this down to being the rest of the JPS external cell and Bluepoint organizing to handle this.. it only makes (to me).
 
Refyref

Refyref

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Looks like my feeling of them shutting down the production parts as well was correct.
 
Nanashrew

Nanashrew

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Ultimately what's happening with Japan Studio are the ramifications of Sony's loss of status in Japan, and for a few gens now, having done little to invest, build or maintain production or an audience there. Over the course of the last 4-5 years (incredibly short time span btw), they have lost a very large portion of partners who were once exclusive to Sony platforms. These were companies that were very loyal, practically almost acted like 2nd party studios and had been making games exclusive to Sony since the PS1 era, and now they've gone multiplatform and support the Switch to recapture what they lost in the domestic market. We're hearing Clap Hanz, due to a trademark, is making their own golf game divorced from Everybody's Golf (Everybody's Golf is Sony's IP), and is very likely to be multiplatform with how trends are going.
 
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