Sony has officially confirmed that it is “reorganizing” Japan Studio, starting April 1st. One of the oldest first-hand teams in the platform owner’s barn will be restructured around Team ASOBI, the developer of the recent Astro’s Playroom, as well as Astro Bot Rescue Mission and The Playroom VR.
A statement shared with IGN explains: “In an effort to further strengthen business operations, SIE can confirm that PlayStation Studios Japan Studio will be reorganized into a new organization on April 1. Japan Studio will refocus on the ASOBI team, the creative team behind Astro’s Playroom, which will allow the team to focus on a single vision and take advantage of the popularity of Astro’s Playroom ”.
More interestingly, the manufacturer has confirmed that any external production features will “focus on the overall features of PlayStation Studios.” In addition to internal projects, Japan Studio is perhaps best known for its collaborations, such as Bloodborne (which it did with FromSoftware) and Everybody’s Golf (which it did with Clap-Hanz).
It’s an interesting turn of events, but not all together, surprising, especially with the bag of high-profile exits to the end developer. Perhaps worth noting that, in terms of purely in-house productions, Japan Studio’s production over the past five years has consisted of a Knack sequel, two LocoRoco remasters, and the aforementioned Astro Bot titles.
However, the developer’s later catalog is much more compelling, with legendary franchises like Ape Escape and Shadow of the Colossus. It’s also true that while they may not have been immense sellers, franchises like Gravity Rush added much-needed diversity to the PlayStation premium portfolio. It will be a pity to see this variety disappear.
The funny thing is that at a time when competitors are buying studios like toilet paper in a pandemic, Sony seems to be climbing back its operations. Qualitybviament, quality is better than quantity, but here and now it doesn’t seem like a good example of the “organic growth” that Jim Ryan, head of PlayStation, has talked about for the past 18 months.