Teruyuki Toriyama, who got famous for his efforts as a producer for Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls, has announced his departure from Sony Entertainment Interactive Japan. He’s previously worked on other PlayStation titles like the Soul Sacrifice game, Astro Bot Rescue Mission, and more. Here’s Toriyama’s departure, which he announced on Twitter:
[Notice]I will be leaving SIE WWS JAPAN Studio at the end of Dec. To all the users who have supported JAPAN Studio so far,thank you so much! I will continue to take on the challenge of creating new game IPs in my new company, and I ask for your continued support. #JAPANStudio
— 鳥山晃之 (Teruyuki Toriyama) | Thirdverse (@teru_toriyama) December 24, 2020
Many other big names have started leaving SIE Japan this year, which, according to some rumors, could mean that Sony is aiming to stray further from Japan. Ever since the corporation’s center was moved from Japan to the USA, its attitudes toward Japanese games became more complicated.
However, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan quickly responded to these allegations, calling them “inaccurate.” The executive was also quick to point out the many Japanese-produced titles on the two PS5 streams ahead of the console’s launch.
In our two launch shows – which featured a reasonable amount of games, but not a huge number of games – there were eight Japanese-developed titles there, many of which are the subject of collaboration and partnership between PlayStation and the Japanese publishing community… …A lot of that commentary is inaccurate, and Japan – as our second largest market and as Sony’s homeland – continues to be really important to us.
