https://www.gematsu.com/2020/04/sony-interactive-entertainment-japan-studio-establishes-external-development-department
Nicolas Doucet (of Astro Bot) already making his mark despite only being the studio director for a month.
Now, being a support studio to external devs is not a new thing for Japan Studio. In order to lend help to third party devs in creating exclusives, SIE had setup collaborative studios in each major region. For US devs, there was Sony Santa Monica (collaborating on all sorts from Journey to The Order). For Europe, there is XDev (Resogun, Until Dawn, Detroit, etc). And for Japan there is Japan Studio (Wild Arms, Soul Sacrifice, Bloodborne, so on).
The only difference being Sony Santa Monica and Japan Studio were internal game dev studios first and did support / collaboration on the side. XDev on the other hand is 100% a support / collaboration studio for external devs.
Well, this has now changed somewhat. Japan Studio has setup a dedicated department to facilitate the support / collaboration role. Basically, creating their own XDev Japan called External Development Department.
This change can have a couple of benefits:
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A dedicated department has a more defined role and with it more operating budget. In this case, a refocus on Japanese third-party exclusives is likely (these external dev projects by Japan Studio had lessened over the past 10 years).
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It frees up the core Japan Studio group of this external dev support responsibility, so they can fully commit to their own internal projects.
It's good to see Japan Studio given more love and attention by SIE. Over the past decade, the western studios under WWS had been the focus of SIE, with Japan Studio criminally overlooked. There is a lot of talent at Japan Studio, and this change could be a good step towards finally unlocking their true potential.
Official Discussion Thread (previous discussion threads) (games wiki)
SIE Japan Studio
Sometimes we like to have discussion threads about non-game topics. One of today's is about Sony Interactive Entertainment's Japan Studio.
While Naughty is Sony's most heralded developer, Japan Studio is easily their most productive, developing or collaborating on a plethora of titles over the past decade and a half:
| Game | Year | Platform | Collaborated With |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ape Escape | 1999 | PS1 | |
| Legend of Dragoon | 2000 | PS1 | |
| Pipo Saru 2001 | 2001 | PS2 | |
| Ape Escape 2 | 2001 | PS2 | |
| Ico | 2001 | PS2 | Developed with Team Ico |
| Siren | 2004 | PS2 | Developed with Project Siren |
| Ape Escape Academy | 2004 | PSP | |
| Ape Escape: On The Loose | 2005 | PSP | |
| Rogue Galaxy | 2005 | PS2 | Developed with Level-5 |
| Ape Escape 3 | 2005 | PS2 | |
| Shadow of the Colossus | 2005 | PS2 | Developed with Team Ico |
| Siren 2 | 2006 | PS2 | Developed with Project Siren |
| LocoRoco | 2006 | PSP | |
| Mainichi Issho | 2006 | PS3, PSP | Developed with Game Arts and Bexide |
| Piyotama | 2007 | PS3, PSP | |
| LocoRoco Cocoreccho! | 2007 | PS3 | |
| Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 | 2007 | PS3 | Developed with Millennium Kitchen |
| The Eye of Judgment | 2007 | PS3 | |
| Patapon | 2007 | PSP | Developed with Pyramid |
| Echochrome | 2008 | PS3, PSP | |
| Siren: Blood Curse | 2008 | PS3 | Developed with Project Siren |
| The Last Guy | 2008 | PS3 | |
| LocoRoco 2 | 2008 | PSP | |
| White Knight Chronicles | 2008 | PS3 | Developed with Level-5 |
| LocoRoco Midnight Carnival | 2009 | PSP | |
| Demon's Souls | 2009 | PS3 | Produced with FromSoftware |
| Trash Panic | 2009 | PS3 | |
| Patapon 2 | 2009 | PSP | Developed with Pyramid |
| Numblast | 2009 | PS3 | |
| The Eye of Judgment: Legends | 2010 | PSP | |
| Patchwork Heroes | 2010 | PSP | Developed with Acquire |
| White Knight Chronicles II | 2010 | PS3 | Developed with Level-5 |
| Kung Fu Rider | 2010 | PS3 | |
| No Heroes Allowed | 2010 | PSP | Developed with Acquire |
| Beat Sketcher | 2010 | PS3 | Developed with Will co., Ltd |
| Ape Escape Fury! Fury! | 2010 | PS3 | |
| Echochrome II | 2010 | PS3 | |
| White Knight Chronicles: Origins | 2011 | PSP | Developed with Matrix Software |
| Bleach: Soul Resurrección | 2011 | PS3 | Developed with Racjin |
| Patapon 3 | 2011 | PSP | Developed with Pyramid |
| Gravity Rush | 2012 | Vita | Developed with Project Siren |
| Tokyo Jungle | 2012 | PS3 | Developed |
