This time, Masami Yamamoto, who was an executive producer of Bloodborne, for example, is the person who announced that Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio is no longer his workplace.

Yamamoto announced on Twitter that since January 28, he’s no longer an employee of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) Japan Studio, and he was involved with several projects. Yamamoto was an external production director and executive producer and has worked on titles such as the No Heroes Allowed series, Tokyo Jungle, Rain, Bloodborne, Soul Sacrifice, Freedom Wars, to name a few. So we have seen even a PlayStation 4 title with his involvement.

„Including my last position at Sony Music Entertainment, I was with Sony Group for 25 years. As a game creator, my job at a first-party was full of happiness. And it was all thanks to your support. Ah, in the future, I’ll be able to make games on any platform… what a strange feeling!”, Yamamoto wrote. So he’s going to be involved with multiplatform developments – his next works will not be exclusive to PlayStation platforms.

The newest departure is not coincidental. We previously wrote about how SIE confirmed in February that SIE Japan Studio will be reorganized with the beginning of the next fiscal year (April 1) into a new organization, with its new centre becoming Team ASOBI. Their newest game, Astro’s Playroom, was pre-installed on each PlayStation 5 Standard Edition and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition console.

The departures all confirm that Sony’s strategy has vastly changed: the company has become international, and SIE’s headquarters are also located in California in the United States. The Western touch can also be noticed on the PlayStation 5’s design, but we have yet to ask: what about remaking previous games (such as Demon’s Souls)? SIE Japan Studio helped Bluepoint with that (the same applies to the PlayStation 4 remake of Shadow of the Colossus).

Where will Yamamoto continue his work?

Source: Gematsu