Sony has officially confirmed that it is “reorganizing” Japan Studio, starting with April 1. One of the oldest primary teams in the platform owner’s platform will be restructured around the ASOBI team, the developer of the recent Astro’s Playroom, as well as the 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 be refocused on the ASOBI Team, 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. ”
More interestingly, the producer confirmed that any external production roles will be “concentrated in the global functions of PlayStation Studios”. In addition to domestic projects, Japan Studio is probably best known for its collaborations, such as Bloodborne (which it made with FromSoftware) and Everybody’s Golf (which it made with Clap-Hanz).
It’s an interesting twist, but not all together surprising – especially with the cork of high-profile departures to the late developer. Perhaps it is worth noting that, in terms of purely domestic 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 back-catalog is much more convincing, with legendary franchises such as Ape Escape and Shadow of the Colossus among them. It’s also true that while they may not have been huge sellers, franchises like Gravity Rush have added much-needed diversity to the portfolio of early PlayStation parts. It will be a shame to see the variety disappear.
The most curious of all is that in an era where competitors buy studios like toilet paper in a pandemic, Sony seems to rise back its operations. Obviously, quality is better than quantity, but here and now, this doesn’t seem like a good example of the “organic growth” that PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has talked about in the last 18 months or so.