PlayStation's Japanese Talent Has Moved On 

Something about letting talent go to waste in the video game industry rubs me the wrong way. That’s why I’m glad the people from Rare formed Playtonic and the people from Sony are moving around

It genuinely broke my heart finding out the Parappa the Rapper's creator game couldn't get funded. What's even worse is that I did it while looking at his/his studio's Wikipedia page and just saw "[New Game Title] (Cancelled)" out of nowhere :(

MonolithSoft picking up some of the employees from Japan Studios wasn't something I knew about, that's super cool! Sucks for the closure of Japan Studios but at least many of the employees were able to find new work at great studios. And I’ve definitely already backed Armed Fantasia, love me some Wild Arms!

The shuttering of such a legendary studio will always remain a black mark on Sony's legacy.

Thank you for this. I loved a lot of Japan Studio's games, all the way through Gravity Rush which became my reason for wanting a Vita. The closing of Japan Studio has become such a touchy topic on Sony related forums though, and even appreciating them now is hard to do without getting defensive pushback from current Sony fans. So it's refreshing to see a laid back video like this talk about where these people are now and I'm glad many of them found good work

Thank you so much for this video. As a huge Gravity Rush fan, it devastated me that the studio shut down and abandoned its talent.

Sony just doesn’t realize there’s space for both American and Japanese development these days

I’m sad that Everybody’s Golf PS4 is having its online servers shut down this week. I just got into the series with the PS1 original and Hot Shots Tennis, and I would’ve absolutely loved to play this game online with people.

Japan Studios talent running to Nintendo and Monolith makes a lot of sense when you think about it

It's sad because the Japanese games were largely the ones I actually cared about or was interested in. Ape Escape is one of my all-time favorite franchises, so it sucks to see it dead. And yeah, I agree with the sentiment towards AAA games. Everything just seems to be turning into everything else and I haven't the slightest interest.

At this point I think Sony shot themselves in the foot dissolving this studio, but I'm happy a lot of the talent went elsewhere and is doing their own projects. I'm also happy Nintendo and Monolith Soft have taken some of the talent as well because they're killing it, and more talented designers under them is only a good thing.

Playstation's portfolio just isn't what it used to be. Blockbuster AAA action/adventure games are cool and popular, but there's some soul missing from the PS1-3 days. Glad many of the devs have moved on to more creative studios/gone indie.

Sony needs to port the Gravity Rush on PC, or PS5 someday. I've only heard good things about both games.

Totally agree, the more variety the better. AAA does not always mean different, but it used to. I wish that mentality returned, it just feels wrong when everything is the same. When AAA could be: immersion, wild, wacky, colorful, atmospheric, dark, moody, captivating, suspenseful and so much more

Main thing to blame here is Sony going to California for their main HQ. They forgot their roots and have become more anti consumer. They need to be put a peg down

Seriously thank you for these "where are they now and what do they do?" Type videos. Looking into armed fantasia

Even if the talent has moved elsewhere there's something about Sony's Japanese first party games that had a unique look to them. They're weird and but also a little darker and less colourful than the stuff you see from Nintendo.

I think this has been one of the most important losses and shifts in the gaming industry in the past half a decade or so, and has really not gotten a lot of fanfare outside of some niche spaces and communities for a variety of reasons. This Sony division, Gravity Rush in particular, was one of the last bastions of the "AA" market, that used to be a HUGE part of the gaming industry back before the 7th and especially 8th gen, and some of my absolute favorite gaming memories as a kid and teen was playing quirky, medium budget projects on 6th gen consoles, a lot of them coming out of Japan. It's especially a shame I think with Ape Escape, because the PS5's controller's esoteric features would be PERFECT for an Ape Escape game, which were all about using the controller in gimmicky ways.

As someone whose favorite game of all time is MediEvil, and I'm pretty sure that team no longer works in the game industry anymore, I know all too well how everyone feels responding to this vid

I'll never forget you, Ape Escape 😔

A very bittersweet video. I'm glad that some of these developers are still making games in some capacity, but it's a little depressing to find out that even in the unlikely event Sony brought back any of their old IPs (like say, Ape Escape or Parappa), they'd be in name only and none of the talent associated with them still works for Sony :/

I just fairly this past couple of weeks got to play Gravity Rush 1&2 and I cried, these are good games and it’s unfortunate Japan Studio is shut down and we may never see a third installment, heck, with the way Jim Ryan is running the company I don’t expect them to re-release these games ever again, instead let’s remake The Last of Us Part 2 for the Playstation 5.

I was so sad, because this studio was the main reason for me getting a PS5. I wanted to try those creative games exclusive to PlayStation (coming from an exclusively Nintendo household). Luckily, I did pickup the Graviy Rush Duology and The Last Guardian early on before even owning a PS5. I think those games have really climbed up in price since the studio's closure, so I got lucky there. There are still plenty Japan Studio games I want to try. out!

omfg thank you for making this video, I would've never known the Gravity Rush creator was making a new game!! I realllly hope to god he can make another Gravity Rush game, It's genuinely one of my favorite games of all time. Also, I REALLY hope now that Project Rap Rabbit is getting popular a bit as its spreading around online that maybe he'll do another kickstarter for it. I really want a new Parappa game and unfortunately, Sony isn't gonna do anything with any of their good franchises, so I'm praying we can get a successor. Anyway, thank you for covering the more obscure Sony games, hoping this video gets a lot of attention, so more people can go back and give these franchises a chance... like Gravity Rush!

I enjoy Western-esque games like Horizon Dawn and Elder Scrolls as much as the next guy, but games like Gravity Rush 1 & 2 and Shadows of Colossus are part of the reasons why I bought a PS5. Though I have yet to play the latter (and I really need to), the Gravity Rush games are both incredible titles with endearing characters, great music, colorful artstyles, and fun gameplay mechanics. And I agree with Jon. A lot of these Triple A titles are basically either cinematic films, just in video game form and with no real depth. Or gritty, realistic shooters that blend into each too well. Which is fine. Those specific genres earn their reputation in the industry, but there's more to games than just that. I enjoy wacky and creative platformers. I enjoy RPGs with beautiful worlds, interesting themes with an engaging story, cast, and deep gameplay mechanics. I enjoy action-adventure games with fun, flashy, and over-the-top combat. And I enjoy games that offer unique, colorful visuals that we don't see a lot of in huge Triple A titles.

Another game I think is worth mentioning for this topic is Last Labyrinth, a VR horror/puzzle game directed and produced by Hiromichi Takahashi, the co-creator of Doko Demo Issyo (the series Toro Inoue is from, though it was created by BeXide and not Japan Studio). He said that it continues the communication theme of that series, but instead through nonverbal communication to solve the game's puzzles.

We live in the era of spiritual successors/sequels and many creators have succeeded where AAA studios have stagnated. A lot people don't know this and just keep asking for games whose original creators and teams have long disbanded.

This studio is basically responsible for the games that made me love Playstation. Very glad I just use a Steam Deck now.

there goes playstations originality

I'm really glad you made a video about this. These games were such a key part of the PlayStation identity to me.

90s and 00s Sony was the best. I guess I’ll get a Switch 2 and keep my eyes peeled for new projects. Japanese games.

While it hurts that almost everything I love about first party PlayStation isn't a part of that any longer, I'm happy to see most of the creators moving on and many pursuing passion projects that had been shot down. And of course, I'm over the moon for Armed Fantasia and Penny Blood. I'm so happy they found so much success so fast, and the fact that I'll be able to play what's more or less Wild ARMs 6 on Xbox or possibly Nintendo is both wonderful and surreal

More videos like this would be cool. Where you talk about talent who made classic games and you give an update on where they are now. Cool to know that the map artist from Bloodbourne is behind the recently released Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

I get that there aren't many alternatives in Japan (the only other company I can think of is Bandai Namco), but the fact a good chunk of Japan Studio went to Nintendo is both really funny and kinda telling of the current state of things over at Sony.

I’m getting flashbacks to the “Catering to West” era of Capcom. 😢

I want a Gravity Rush 3 so bad dude, it breaks my heart that we most likely won't get one. I hope that rumoured Gravity Rush movie ends up being good though

I loved this video - it was super comfy. Japan Studios is one of the studios I remember and love the most. They were responsible for so many incredible memories from my childhood, playing Ape Escape, Parappa The Rapper, then playing Shadow of The Colossus and finally Patapon on the PSP. The only thing I'm personally interested in terms of new Sony IPs is the Spider-Man franchise, because Insomniac (another dear Studio, wonder who's left there) is making a great job with that franchise, but old Naughty Dog is dead. I would say Naughty Dog is the reason why everyone else is gone. TLOU and Uncharted sold too well.

I sincerely hope that ape escape gets a spiritual successor like other games. 3 and Pumped and primed are master pieces in my eyes and it's saddens me knowing there's as of now, nothing like that.

Sony moving the PS brand to California was a mistake.

Great video, and a wonderful point that you bring up Jon. I can't agree more that it would be a shame to let such talent go unnoticed and wasted. Studios don't make games. It's the people who make up the studio. And those people aren't faceless. Artist recognition really deserves more attention.

I literally just played Astro's Playroom on the PS5 earlier today and it was littered with references to at least half of the franchises mentioned in this video. It's sad Sony will still pepper references to these characters here and there just to tug at your heart strings while having no actual intentions to ever do anything else with them. What a waste.

These developers deserved better. I really loved Ape Escape and wanted a sequel so bad It's good to know that some of the devs are still in the industry

This explains why they're doing remakes after remakes. Sony's got no new talents left

That blows. Sony's Japanese games were WAY more interesting to me than their English departments' games. Hopefully the talent from that studio continues to get good work as their titles were pretty sweet.

Thanks for covering legend of dragoon!

I never knew that about Bloodborne lead map artist going onto work for Monolith Soft. Sony's loss is Nintendo gain big-time I guess and shows with the incredible Xeno 3 :-)

The way Sony treats all the other studios not named Naughty Dog and Inmsoniac is truly ridiculous. I still remember when they disabled the Gravity Rush 2 servers less than a year after the game came out. Guess all that PS Plus money is worthless if Sony can't keep a game's online features working.

it's almost hurtful seeing all that soul being sucked out of sony and playstation ever since they moved to california... now all we get is gray 3rd person shooters and remakes.

Consumers drive innovation! Final point is so important. If people keep buying the same old, we will keep getting same old. Support stuff that's not that and we might see new types of games emerge (or old ones that desperately need revival/more attention). I try to support any "not same-old" type game whenever I can, AAA, AA or indie. Former Sony staff trying to do something new will always have my attention.

It's just sad that Sony has almost exclusively become a western company. I can't completely blame Sony because those Japanese games are not selling well in the first place, so they are just following the money trail, but man does it sting to see Sony abandoning their Japanese roots.

I say this as someone who likes modern PlayStation, but I do genuinely miss when Japan Studio was around as its own entity. I can see why Sony folded them since their games attracted a very small audience compared to the Western-made stuff, but I liked that they added a lot of variety with just how odd and unexpected a lot of their games were. Stuff like LocoRoco, Dark Cloud, Gravity Rush, Legend of Dragoon, the Team Ico stuff and especially Puppeteer really helped diversify the libraries of the last 3 PlayStation consoles and their handhelds. I do realize however that they just weren't as financially viable as games like Uncharted, Last of Us, inFAMOUS etc. to really be considered hugely profitable for SIE after the PS2 era. A sad reality but it is what it is I am at least glad they are giving indies a lot of attention so there's still a presence of a lot of the oddball stuff to supplement the big first-party games They actually have made an effort to give smaller games or Japanese games a time to shine at their showcases but the problem is whenever a State of Play rolls around their core fanbase just dismisses those games for not being something like God of War or Spider-Man (like this recent, Japanese-centric one they did)

I was distraught over Japan Studio's demise because it dashed my hopes of a Patapon 3 remaster. Needless to say, Jabberwocky has got my attention.

...so basically Sony has no exclusives for people who aren't casual gamers? Why would I get a PS5 if there will be no Ape Escape, Gravity Rush or JRPGs. Is Sony trying to fail doing this and raising the PS5 prices? You can't rely on casuals and "game journos" forever; Nintendo already learned that lesson.

I actually finished Easy Come Easy Golf and you’re getting a way better golf game for $20 versus a $60 Mario Golf game. It’s really good. It’s cool to see this type of video showcasing some more in depth stuff on the game industry here.

Jim Ryan is the worst thing to happen in Playstation history.

"a more powerful console" naw, if you can't shoehorn that JRPG into the Switch; I don't need it that badly.

I seriously hope Team Gravity eventually gets the Gravity Rush license away from sony's shitty hands and can give us the third game I love the series.

You forgot to mention XDev Japan, part of the team at Japan Studio that was in charge of partnerships with 3rd party studios (like the ones they had with Clap Hanz and From Software) formed that new asian branch of XDev, that up until that point only operated in Europe.

I would be really interested to know if this has affected the Japanese gaming community’s view on Sony. When this first happened, it appeared that Sony was making a move towards more Western cinematic games.

Its not all bad this gives room for new devs too step up and these companies are gonna find work with this history.

People know him for Gravity Rush, but I know him for The Forbidden Siren

The timing on this video is insane considering I just started replaying the Ape Escape series. It's sad to see that we won't be getting successors to that or Gravity Rush any time soon, since those are my fav Japan Studio properties. On the other hand... Armed Fantasia looks amazing, so I'm glad I learned of it from this video. It's sad to lose such a talented studio, but at least the talent has moved on and continued their legacy unbound from a parent company that doesn't appreciate them.

I don't know if there SHOULD be a Gravity Rush 3. Maybe 2 games are enough. But I do want the 2 games to get more love.

I'm absolutely baffled that Sony just let all this talent slip through their hands. Japan Studio was as much a part of Sony's identity as Santa Monica or Naughty Dog are. Without them current day PlayStation just feels too western focused and homogenized. Way too few projects to bank on instead of the absolute deluge of creativity we got on PS1/PS2/PSP and PS3 and Vita to an extent.

As a fan of PlayStation not having a team of smaller yet full creatively eccentric games is a huge bummer. Not every game has to be a 5+ year development of the same shell: Third person action adventure open world (at least in elements if not fully embraced) story heavy blockbuster. Their output is so much less unique and for that reason it is harder to justify even recommending PlayStation rather than just building a PC.

It sucks that Sony left Japan Studio out to dry, and the brand is, in my opinion, all the lesser for it. Games like Horizon, God of War, Ghosts of Tsushima, Uncharted, The Last of Us, and Spider-Man are all good, but they're also very derivative and unimaginative. They don't push any boundaries in terms of gameplay design, rather chasing the same hyper-realistic narrative focused trend. There's no variety in Playstation exclusives anymore, and with games like Persona going multiplatform it seems they're losing most of their 3rd party exclusive offerings as well.

Ape escape!?! Noooo I want a new ape escape!

This video captures my feelings so comprehensively. Main reason I'm not interested in Sony anymore. At least with Xbox and Nintendo we are still getting creative, unique experience. Really looking forward to Pentiment.

Something about playing Shadow of the Colossus footage when talking about the studio developing Locoroco & Ape Escape had me dying

I doubt they would find it hard to look for companies who value their talent. They can even make a company themselves if they have the fund. Thats how amazing these people behind our games are

Sony had such amazing talent and they just left them all to rot. So fucking infuriating. At least they're free now.

What's even more depressing is that shutting down of Japan Studio isn't necessarily a bad business decision. As much as I regard JS's works as pinnacles of their genres, I can't lie to myself and say they have as much mass appeal as any gritty boring looking shooter developed now. It's a shame that it seems to also affect NA studios like NaughtyDog being a TLOU only studio and Insomniac into a Marvel's games studio, no new creative ideas allowed.

The games industry will not rest until everything cool is extinguished

Is this why there's no parappa 3...?

I have no idea why Sony wouldn't keep Gravity Rush going.

I missed the part about easy come easy golf releasing after the direct world wide. Downloading it now.

A very solid video, thank you for the great update.

After the PS3, PlayStation were gradually pushing out all their Japanese devs and letting their projects die out. Since Sony's western exclusives were no longer doing it for me (because, y'know, I like good GAMES, not dull western triple-A slop with unskippable walking sections and preachy left-wing political propaganda), that meant I'm basically out-of-luck when it comes to that platform. By the time the PS5 came out, I had no reason to buy their consoles. PS4 would be my last one, and Gravity Rush 2's abandonment was the last straw for me. Anything that remotely interested me was already available on PC and PS4, so buying a PS5 would just be a waste of £480 to play Astro's Playroom. Modern PlayStation hates Japan, plain and simple. They constantly demand censorship of Japanese games, they pushed out their own in-house developers and abandoned their legacy, and have double-standards with their western devs' graphic and sexual content. I'm glad some of those devs are still making stuff outside of Sony, even if I'm not the biggest fan of horror or golf games, but it really does feel like there's a big gap in the market. I love collectathon platformers, but there's no longer anything like Ape Escape (which itself saw so many games never make it to Europe, let alone outside of Japan). I'm glad Bokeh are at work on their next game, but Gravity Rush 2 was one of my favourite games last gen, and I'm sorely craving a game as mechanically satisfying and imaginative. At this point, Sony should just sell their Japanese IP's to Nintendo. They won't, but they should. If the original devs can no longer work on them, then I'd rather people from their country of origin who actually understand their worth take up the mantle, rather than lying dormant, or worse, being completely butchered by a cynical western developer with a bitter hatred of the source material. Since Nintendo still deliver quality exclusives that make their consoles worth owning, and since they offer a wide variety of exclusives with passion, soul and creativity, they'd be the perfect fit for Ape Escape, Jumping Flash and Gravity Rush. Meanwhile, PlayStation as a brand has now become so dull, devoid of soul and creatively-bankrupt that they might as well just be Xbox under a different name. You need neither console if you already own a gaming PC, since you can play any of the few decend games they put out on Steam. FF16 is a timed-exclusive, and I guarantee Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin are also. So really, all that leaves you with is Astro's Playroom (which could easily be ported to PC, since Steam supports dualsense controllers), and a boring retracing of Demon's Souls with a worse art direction and music.

Shadow Hearts was not a Sony property, and the dev staff of SH/PB were not Sony staff. It belongs, and always has, to Universal Entertainment Corp., formerly Aruze, who published all three previous games and also owns Koudelka. The dev studio for SH was Sacnoth/Nautilus. Additionally, Wild Bunch Prod. is only the developer for Armed Fantasia. The developer for Penny Blood is Yukikaze, which consists of staff from Nautilus. Other than that, good video.

People that are waiting for Bloodborne 2 they have no idea that it will not be the same without Japan Studio.

Their former talent made the smartest decision fleeing SIE

Sony only makes Hollywood games now. Don’t get me wrong, I like the last of us as much as the next guy but I’m gonna miss the fun, zany and artsy stuff.

That's why I tell people that like JRPGs don't support Sony. Their consoles going forward are going to become barren besides the multiplatform games. Like Eiyuden Chronicles. Before going to Kickstarter they went to Sony multiple times and were turned away. Same thing with Monolith before going to Nintendo. Reading JP forums they are saying PS5 is DoA in Japan. Ouch

Great video!! -Thanks Jon

This is even more relevant with recent news.

5:28 To be fair: Mashing up Edo Japan and Rap Music was a concept destined to fail from the start.

Ether Nintendo or Microsoft should snagg them. I would love to see an Ape Escape spiritual successor on switch.

I'm still gutted that Japan Studio shut down. It was responsible for a lot of my favorite games, and I appreciated they took risks. Without it, PlayStation has lost some of its identity to me. I LOVE games like The Last of Us, God of War, and Ghost of Tsushima, but I also love PlayStation's wackier games.

The Playstation is dead to me, and it should be dead to Japan too. The company acts dirty to Japanese devs and to be honest Japanese devs, at least to me, are among the few developers still making fun games. The rest are just movies, not games, movies.

There goes any reason to have a PlayStation, a PlayStation console without Japanese games is just an expensive paperweight. I mean, seriously. Look at the garbage America has been pumping out over the last decade.

We've known this for years though, they moved their HQ to California and all. There's nothing left of Playstation but woke cinematic third person shooters and PS2 platformer nostalgic cashgrabs.

Sony: If your franchise isn't an edgy, pretentious pseudo movie, we don't care.

Here after Ratatan reached its goal!

I don’t understand why Sony wants to be an American company now, it’s like they’re ashamed of their Japanese roots.

Not just a damn shame but also incredibly stupid of Sony!

I was a huge ape escape fan. Why not make a real platformer like that, rather than the knacks? Which were promoted as the "next crash and spyro" when it was really a platformer without the platforming and had button mashing combat. And barely anyone cared.

Nintendo poaching Sony talent makes me oddly giddy.

I genuinely do not plan on buying a PS5 until I see either Parapa 3 or Ape Escape 4.

Don't forget soul sacrifice delta Freedom wars 😭 where is the second one of both ? We can't get it now

2005: Nintendo's Gamecube failure will make it a 3rd party developer like Sega. 2022: Sony focuses on Western market. Just like Sega.