The new business year has started today, causing Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio to essentially no longer exist in its original format, so the two departures are pretty much the final blow.

The first person we name is Shunsuke Saito, who announced on Twitter that he isn’t going to be part of the Team ASOBI (Astro’s Playroom)-centred new Japanese Sony team. His departure might not mean much, so we will add that he was the character designer and animator for the first Gravity Rush. He kept these roles in the sequel, but there, he also was the art director. We don’t know if he continues to work in the gaming industry, and if so, where he will continue his career.

Departure number two is Kentaro Motomura, who also announced on Twitter that he left SIE Japan Studio. He was the senior producer for quite a few games (Dark Cloud, Wild Arms, Soul Sacrifice, Bloodborne, and Everybody’s Golf), but at least he confirmed that he will remain in the game developer industry. However, we have yet to hear where he will continue: he might potentially launch his studio at this point.

We have kept an eye on all the people who have left SIE Japan Studio over the past six months or so: Masami Yamamoto, Masaaki Yamagiwa, Teruyuki Toriyama, Keiichiro Toyama, Kazunobu Sato, and Junya Okura – the last three have since opened their studio (Bokeh Game Studio), whose first game was recently mentioned in the news via their newest concept art (the game is going to be a mainstream horror title).

After all this, it’s hard to believe what Jim Ryan, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment says (especially how in 2016, he outright called backwards compatibility a dumb idea… which is possibly why they will kill the PlayStation Store for the PlayStation 3, the PSP, and the PlayStation Vita this summer), claiming that the Japanese market will continue to be extremely important for them.

But the numbers don’t lie: already the PlayStation 4 wasn’t a strong selling console in Japan…

Source: PSL