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[Abriael_GN]

How did Sony "mishandled" Gravity Rush? They greenlighted a very niche and unique game in the first place and even though it sold poorly they gave it another chance and remastered it for PS4 and also greenlighted a sequel with an even bigger budget than the original. Any other company would have never given Toyama another chance.

You mean releasing it without a shred of marketing?

In this industry, it's called "Mishandling."

 

[sublimit]

Toyama SH dream is dead?

Well at least we now know that rumors were bullshit. Toyama was the only person that could do Silent Hill justice.

 

[Yumi]

Clearly if gamers supported their projects as much as they claim to do on social media, they maybe would have not left.

Good they left. They clearly don't have it in them anymore.

That being said, it truly does seem like Sony are neglecting Japan and this will bite them in the ass eventually considering how much microsoft are sniffing around. In fact I bet microsoft will acquire Bokeh.

Seems to line up given Microsoft has stated they are looking to tap into Japanese market and are interested in acquiring more studios.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Sony focusing on white people games is honestly worrying when they're a Japanese company. Letting talent just fall through your fingers, I mean TLOU Part II, God of War and Spider-Man were good like but you know what's also good? Balance.

Gonna have to buy Gravity Rush 2 now.

 

[Mike Zhang]

This is why I hate SIE's new management.

 

[Clear]

I mean Sony got them to make a free pre-installed demo for the PS5 instead of a full fledged game

It was the OBVIOUS choice.
Get the guys who made the Astrobot VR game that was universally praised to make an Astrobot game to pack in with PS5 and showcase its controller!

Also, Astrobot Rescue Mission came out in late 2018 so its not like they had the luxury of time to make a huge game.

 

[sublimit]

You mean releasing it without a shred of marketing?

In this industry, it's called "Mishandling."

On the contrary i think they did a lot more for GR2 when any other company would have dropped the project immediately after the financial failure of the first game. They did collaborations with other companies and made some expensive commercials to promote the game. Probably they did a lot more than that in Japan that we Western gamers don't know about.

 

[Mobile Suit Gooch]

This is why I hate SIE's new management.

Would've happened if Shu was in charge, hell, Ms. Nakamura wanted that role I believe.

 

[Klayzer]

Japan Studios have been mismanaged for quite a long time now (has nothing to do with Jim/new management). Literally had to bring westerners to handle that aspect to try to sort the messes out. These shakeups and departures are really for the better long term.

Can't put out big AAA franchises for a whole gen. Rayspace literally being in development hell.

Polyphony was in limbo as well for a long time until GTSport - and I've been a proponent of a massive shakeup there too.

Totally agree. Sony's JPN devs, needs to have a manager to have them work more efficiently. Their projects take forever to release.

 

[Bodomism]

Blomberg article is true then.

Japanese team and market were sidelined by them.

Shipped less console in Japan after vowed to take Japan seriously and despite being the second biggest market for PS4 they still refused to allocate more PS5 hardware to Japan and shipped much smaller than UK.

UK PS5 shipments in November - over 300K

Japan PS5 shipments in November - less than 200K

 

[Larlight]

Wish him well. There's been a lot of people in the industry leaving their current positions to try their hand at something else. It happens. People can have different aspirations after a while. This could be the same. Making a brand new gaming studio isn't something you just do overnight. This was planned for a while and could have been a long time coming for him.

 

[MagnesG]

It's more like Sony fanbase are not appreciating much of their games anymore. They don't want to buy games unless it's AAA realistic games with walking simulator sections for the most part. $60 is big no no when it's only AA kiddie graphics. And as always would only wait for sale.

Just release the games on Switch, I'm sure it will thrive.

 

[Raonak]

I liked GR, but it was way too simplistic for my tastes. there was a lot of potential, but yeh....

 

[Abriael_GN]

On the contrary i think they did a lot more for GR2 when any other company would have dropped the project immediately after the financial failure of the first game. They did collaborations with other companies and made some expensive commercials to promote the game. Probably they did a lot more than that in Japan that we Western gamers don't know about.

I know perfectly well. The issue is that it wasn't marketed at all in the west, and the west is way the bigger market. Incidentally, western games get more marketing even in Japan from Sony.

 

[Rikkori]

Without the Sony boot on their neck they can finally breath with creativity. Good luck Bokeh! The PC community welcomes you with open arms.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

My heart is very broken and I am very depressed by the news.

Still, my love for Gravity Rush will never go away. Even in my old age, Kat is my hero.

 

[BaneIsPain]

If Bokeh studio doesn’t produce a game with bokeh as main feature, I’ll be disappointed.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Just release the games on Switch, I'm sure it will thrive.

A Gravity Rush like game with some Nintendo magic sprinkled on top? Now that would be motherfucking EPIC.

 

[44alltheway]

Damn, I had really began to believe those Silent Hill rumors too....

 

[ArtHands]

Without the Sony boot on their neck they can finally breath with creativity. Good luck Bokeh! The PC community welcomes you with open arms.

Yah. I always think their games are best fit for Nintendo and PC, where the non-AAA narrative adventure game thrives.

 

[pixelation]

Go Microsoft, go

May your tongue turn into chicharron.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Kojima is ruthless when he wants something as his own

 

[TheKillerStove]

I know perfectly well. The issue is that it wasn't marketed at all in the west, and the west is way the bigger market. Incidentally, western games get more marketing even in Japan from Sony.

To back up your point, I love niche Japanese shit and had no clue what Gravity Rush was until 2 had been out for over a year. Not "I saw something but it didn't pique my interest," I literally had not even seen art of Kat or the name Gravity Rush. Then I only saw it when I was going through all the games on sale during a PSN sale. Sony wouldve had to actively try to hide the game for it to get worse exposure than it did.

 

[Elginer]

Talented as hell bunch and Gravity Tush is fantastic. I’m not sure why the hell Sony has not hyped up Japan studio

 

[Dabaus]

I’d consider this the nail in the coffin for the silent hill reboot rumor. I’d really like to know what is going on over at Sony, 3 high profile directors leave the company in 2 days. Jimbos refusal to acknowledge his biggest opponent is gobbling studios left and right. Seems like behind the scenes Sony is mess and is only doing so well because Andrew house and Shawn layden laid such a good foundation for the Ps5 generation.

 

[longdi]

Blomberg article is true then.

Japanese team and market were sidelined by them.

Shipped less console in Japan after vowed to take Japan seriously and despite being the second biggest market for PS4 they still refused to allocate more PS5 hardware to Japan and shipped much smaller than UK.

UK PS5 shipments in November - over 300K

Japan PS5 shipments in November - less than 200K

Jim ryan is such a shrew and ruthless suit. I hope his chase of continued AAA blockbusters dont fall into fatigue this gen

Sony focusing on white people games is honestly worrying when they're a Japanese company. Letting talent just fall through your fingers, I mean TLOU Part II, God of War and Spider-Man were good like but you know what's also good? Balance.

Gonna have to buy Gravity Rush 2 now.

Not just white people games, but 'wokey' 'inclusivity'.

 

[O-N-E]

I'm sure Sony feels comfortable with their trajectory, but they could be so much bigger if they tapped into the charm of Japanese games and invested big in them. They should have Nintendo style staple Japanese franchises with insane sales numbers, yet here we are.

Stuck with good enough.

 

[mckmas8808]

It's the worst thing Sony has done since 2012. The horrible mishandling of their 1st party Japanese devs was sooooo mishandled.

 

[Neko Mimi Mode]

We knew already, from Bloomberg yes but it's been on the cards for years, that Sony are systematically phasing out support for Japan-based developers and, ultimately, sidelining the market.

This is just more confirmation. It's sad to see, but I'm wishing Toyama and the others luck as they move independent. They have the talent, at least, to make it a success.

 

[DeadOblivion78]

I know perfectly well. The issue is that it wasn't marketed at all in the west, and the west is way the bigger market. Incidentally, western games get more marketing even in Japan from Sony.

There is no amount of marketing Sony could have done to make Gravity Rush 2 to sell well.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

We knew already, from Bloomberg yes but it's been on the cards for years, that Sony are systematically phasing out support for Japan-based developers and, ultimately, sidelining the market.

This is just more confirmation. It's sad to see, but I'm wishing Toyama and the others luck as they move independent. They have the talent, at least, to make it a success.

Ayo, Danjin44 , @SLoWMoTIoN, GET ITT & be acquainted with one another!

 

[blackjon24]

There is no amount of marketing Sony could have done to make Gravity Rush 2 to sell well.

Exactly, the game would have just ended being an even bigger financial failure

 

[bender]

Gravity Rush seems cool until you play it.

Puppeteer was dope though. I'd love to know the budget on it. I bet it was somewhat expensive with all that art. I wish Sony could figure out a middle ground to make these types of smaller budget games successful.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Ayo, Danjin44 , @SLoWMoTIoN, GET ITT & be acquainted with one another!

I actually didn't like Gravity Rush much.

About Sony's current treatment of (ironically) JPN games

Eh, it is what it is. Makes sense for them to leave when Sony has treated JPN games like shit for the last 4 years. Their woke game/3rd person games strategy will bite Sony in the ass eventually and I'm glad Nintendo has mostly uncucked itself from NoA's shit. PC gaming GET?

 

[DeadOblivion78]

Gravity Rush seems cool until you play it.

Puppeteer was dope though. I'd love to know the budget on it. I bet it was somewhat expensive with all that art. I wish Sony could figure out a middle ground to make these types of smaller budget games successful.

I don't know about a middle ground but I prefer Sony's approach of "Go Big or Go Home". You either wow people or you don't. It may seem harsh but at the end of the day the game has to make a profit.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Sony focusing on white people games is honestly worrying when they're a Japanese company. Letting talent just fall through your fingers, I mean TLOU Part II, God of War and Spider-Man were good like but you know what's also good? Balance.

STFU and keep buying 3rd person games!

Gonna have to buy Gravity Rush 2 now.

What good will that do lol.

 

[timmyp53]

Games tend not to sell if they get no marketing. That's how it works. You market them, and THEN they sell. Not the other way around. It didn't even get indie-level marketing (compared to many indies that were being pushed by Sony at that time), let alone AA.

Edit: Already posted.. my bad

 

[DeadOblivion78]

I actually didn't like Gravity Rush much.

About Sony's current treatment of (ironically) JPN games

Eh, it is what it is. Makes sense for them to leave when Sony has treated JPN games like shit for the last 4 years. Their woke game/3rd person games strategy will bite Sony in the ass eventually and I'm glad Nintendo has mostly uncucked itself from NoA's shit. PC gaming GET?

Their "woke" 3rd person game strategy you so call will be more successful than any JPN game Sony will ever make. No one wants a Sony JPN game and the market is explicitly telling them that.

 

[bender]

I don't know about a middle ground but I prefer Sony's approach of "Go Big or Go Home". You either wow people or you don't. It may seem harsh but at the end of the day the game has to make a profit.

There has to be a way to make smaller, non-Indie titles profitable. I'd be disappointed if all we get are the big titles from ND, Santa Monica, Guerilla, etc.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

I actually didn't like Gravity Rush much.

About Sony's current treatment of (ironically) JPN games

Eh, it is what it is. Makes sense for them to leave when Sony has treated JPN games like shit for the last 4 years. Their woke game/3rd person games strategy will bite Sony in the ass eventually and I'm glad Nintendo has mostly uncucked itself from NoA's shit. PC gaming GET?

I really miss the days when Sony would fund games like Folklore and Nier. Nowadays, it's either go big or go home.

Also, Neko Mimi Mode is the one I wanted you to be acquainted with!

 

[DeadOblivion78]

I really miss the days when Sony would fund games like Folklore and Nier. Nowadays, it's either go big or go home.

Also, Neko Mimi Mode is the one I wanted you to he acquainted with!

Maybe if you guys actually bought those games we would get more of those.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Maybe if you guys actually bought those games we would get more of those.

Ayo, mind your own business.

I'm having a discussion with him, not you.

 

[Klayzer]

I don't know about a middle ground but I prefer Sony's approach of "Go Big or Go Home". You either wow people or you don't. It may seem harsh but at the end of the day the game has to make a profit.

It wasn't always "go big or go home". Not long ago Playstation was known for their big franchises funding all the smaller, more quirky tittles. It does seem to have been a shift in philosophy towards JPN games. I can see many Japanese devs going over to Nintendo for AA tittles. We've already seen the Cold Steel series release on the Switch. Persona and formerly all other traditional PS releases will undoubtedly follow.

 

[DeadOblivion78]

It wasn't always "go big or go home". Not long ago Playstation was known for their big franchises funding all the smaller, more quirky tittles. It does seem to have been a shift in philosophy towards JPN games. I can see many Japanese devs going over to Nintendo for AA tittles. We've already seen the Cold Steel series release on the Switch. Persona and formerly all other traditional PS releases will undoubtedly follow.

Don't forget that back then game budgets weren't as big as they are nowadays ever since the HD shift. There was more leeway to experiment back then but in today's age you can't fuck up at all or risk getting shut down.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Their "woke" 3rd person game strategy you so call will be more successful than any JPN game Sony will ever make.

Ofc it will. 40x the budget, advertisement and free publicity from the twatter crowd.

No one wants a Sony JPN game and the market is explicitly telling them that.

Sony (California) pretty much effectively killed off first party JPN titles though. Can't really buy something they aren't exactly putting out now can we? They aren't putting any cash into any first party jpn developed title the way they do for their other IPs. Hell that movie shooter game had a bigger budget than Bloodborne ffs. Everything else was a remaster from generations ago, it was downright pitiful and this gen seems like a port war. This coupled with selective censorship has made me (and as you've seen in this thread others) a bit bitter about Sony's direction. I don't even know why people would want less variety of games but here we are. Enjoy that third person game friendo.

 

[MistBreeze]

I love ps jpn studio games like gravity rush and puppeteer but jpn studio is not making great games like other japaneese studios aka capcom or se

is not this the time this studio make realy great AAA games??

the studios internal teams seem experimenting concepts for long time

for god sakes it is an old 1994 studio with more than 400 people

wee need better-higher scope games
We need true AAA Japanese games

I hope team Asobi do that they seem more talented and creative

I like some of their collaborations with from software and level 5 ... I hope they continue that

 

[DeadOblivion78]

Ofc it will. 40x the budget, advertisement and free publicity from the twatter crowd.


Sony (California) pretty much effectively killed off first party JPN titles though. Can't really buy something they aren't exactly putting out now can we? They aren't putting any cash into any first party jpn developed title the way they do for their other IPs. Hell that movie shooter game had a bigger budget than Bloodborne ffs. Everything else was a remaster from generations ago, it was downright pitiful and this gen seems like a port war. This coupled with selective censorship has made me (and as you've seen in this thread others) a bit bitter about Sony's direction. I don't even know why people would want less variety of games but here we are. Enjoy that third person game friendo.

I'm not saying I want less games. I'm just saying that all of Sony's JPN titles have all sold horribly. It's apparent that the majority of PlayStation community aren't interested in their first party JPN titles after the PS3 era.

 

[Klayzer]

Don't forget that back then game budgets weren't as big as they are nowadays ever since the HD shift. There was more leeway to experiment back then but in today's age you can't fuck up at all or risk getting shut down.

True. I understand why they focus on the western style games (higher profits/ more interest) but, if their not careful, a substantial amount of gamers, that bought consoles for that particular reason will find other sources.

I wouldn't put all my money in only those specific types of experiences.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

I'm not saying I want less games. I'm just saying that all of Sony's JPN titles have all sold horribly. It's apparent that the majority of PlayStation community aren't interested in their first party JPN titles after the PS3 era.

Aren't people gushing themselves over a JPN remaster right now? (developed with an American company) The PS community is actually interested in first party JPN titles lol.

True. I understand why they focus on the western style games (higher profits/ more interest) but, if their not careful, a substantial amount of gamers, that bought consoles for that particular reason will find other sources.

I wouldn't put all my money in only those specific types of experiences.

A console is only as good as the games it offers. This is what people don't seem to get.

 

[TheKillerStove]

Maybe if you guys actually bought those games we would get more of those.

Yakuza as a franchise is the perfect counter example to what you're saying about advertising here. Sega didnt have confidence that a wacky, distinctly Japanese game would sell well in the west, so they marketed it like it was GTA. People bought it expecting GTA, and disliked all the wacky shit and on rails story missions. People who wouldve liked it for what it was didnt buy it because they thought it was a shitty GTA clone. Instead of realizing the mistake and changing the advertising for Yakuza 2, they cut wacky content to try and force it into that serious mold making for a decidedly worse experience that felt incomplete. For Yakuza 3 through 5, we got no ads and less money spent on localization since they thought Yakuza just doesn't sell well here. We didn't even get a physical release of Yakuza 5. Then memes start spreading the wacky hype shit from the franchise, along with a positive PR push from Super Best Friends Play. People actually know about a product they might want, so they buy 0 and Kiwami. Now every Ryu Ga Gotoku game is localized, and the newest game has an English dub. Like a Dragon was even prominently featured in Microsoft promotional events, despite being a niche playstation exclusive franchise that "won't sell in the west" just 4 years ago. Advertising or lack thereof can 100% kill a franchise.