The AA game development market disappeared, leading to the closure of Japan Studio back in 2021. While the closure happened, though, Team Asobi is the next best thing.
Speaking to Sacred Symbols (via VGC), exited PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida, who has been making tons of interview appearances, shared the most likely reason surrounding the studio’s closure despite having tons of major games under their belt.
“Other than Gran Turismo, we had many great products but didn’t really have many triple-A-level successful products. That became more and more important as the big games became bigger – the indies filled the gap and the double-A market seems to have disappeared.
Most of the IPs that Japan Studio had were in that smaller double-A sized group and the market became really difficult for these kinds of games. For example, after Gravity Rush 2, [director Keiichiro Toyama] tried to come up with a new concept, but we were not able to greenlight any of his new concepts, even though they were really interesting.”
It’s fair to say Sony has different markets, but with the success of Astro Bot, and the goal of Team Asobi, we hope that smaller games will continue to be a part of the studio.
What do you think? Do you miss Japan Studio? Let us know below!