Summary
- Former PlayStation head of indies and Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida reveals that Japan Studio shut down due to difficulties making successful AAA games.
- According to Yoshida, Sony shifted its focus to larger AAA games, and the gaming market became difficult for Japan Studio’s smaller AA games to succeed.
- Yoshida was unable to greenlight AA games, including a concept by Gravity Rush 2 and Slitterhead director Keiichiro Toyama, before the studio closed.
Former Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida revealed the reasons why Japan Studio shut down, noting that the gaming market made it “really difficult” for the studio’s games to succeed. Yoshida also commented on the expectations that Sony had for its developers and Japan Studio for AAA PlayStation games.
In November 2024, Yoshida announced his plans to step down from his PlayStation head of indies role at Sony Interactive Entertainment on January 15, 2025, after serving more than 30 years with the company. In the few months following his departure from the company, Yoshida shared more insight involving his role in recent years at Sony, including how he “had no choice” but to accept the head of indies position or leave Sony entirely in 2019. A few years after transitioning to his new role, Japan Studio was reorganized in 2021 and shut down.
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Shuhei Yoshida revealed new details about the shutdown of Japan Studio in 2021 on the Sacred Symbols+ podcast, citing that “the market became really difficult” for the smaller “AA” titles that the studio created for Sony. Yoshida explains that Sony didn’t have many products with “AAA” levels of success for some time during his tenure as head of Worldwide Studios at Sony, other than Gran Turismo. Over time, bigger AAA games became more important, with indie games filling in the gap that Japan Studio’s smaller AA games once filled. As a result, Yoshida was unable to greenlight any concepts or new games, including one that Gravity Rush 2 and Slitterhead director Keiichiro Toyama approached him with after Gravity Rush 2’s release in 2017.
Shuhei Yoshida Explains Why Japan Studio Shut Down
- The gaming market became difficult for Japan Studio’s AA games, with interest rising in indie games.
- Japan Studio was not able to make “amazingly successful” games and adapt to Sony’s new AAA and live service focus.
Moreover, Yoshida explained he was not successful at having a successful live service game, and he stated that he was “not able to have amazingly successful games made in Japan.” Coupled with the rising indie games market, Sony shifted its focus away from Japan Studio’s intellectual properties, and Yoshida began to work with indie developers as part of a new initiative once Hermen Hulst replaced him as president.
After Japan Studio’s shutdown, a majority of the development staff was let go and went on to create new games and even build new studios. Toyama founded Bokeh Game Studio and went on to create and release Slitterhead, as Yoshida recounted during the podcast. Yoshida also commented on Ratatan, the upcoming Patapon spiritual successor. Although the studio is no longer around, Yoshida notes that Ratatan continues Japan Studio’s legacy, and it’s a type of game that Sony wouldn’t currently make.
Yoshida may have left Sony in January, but he’s still actively involved in the gaming industry in 2025. One of his most recent roles includes being a voice actor in the upcoming indie game Promise Mascot Agency, and he’s also hoping for “more surprises” involving Nintendo Switch 2.
Sony
- Date Founded
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May 7, 1946
- Headquarters
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Minato City, Tokyo, Japan