Japan Studio Has Officially Been Removed from Sony’s Website

Well, we knew Japan Studio had been disbanded, but here’s closure: the team has been removed from Sony’s official website – consider this the divorce papers at the end of a messy separation, perhaps. Astro’s Playroom developer Team Asobi has taken the veteran Tokyo team’s spot, on a PlayStation Studios page which is already outdated following the acquisition of Housemarque.

Japan Studio was one of the oldest first-party developers at PlayStation, responsible for series like Ape Escape and Gravity Rush. But its internally developed titles have failed to find commercial success in recent years, and it had much better luck with externally developed collaborations – like Bloodborne, which it co-developed with FromSoftware.

It seems like XDEV – formerly XDEV Europe – will fulfil that role moving forwards, as it’s been hiring staff in Japan of late. For now, though, farewell Japan Studio – you will be missed!