It’s happening as I have been exactly saying for years. Sony is done with California and will now look at cheaper areas to operate the PlayStation business. This makes the reallocation of the PlayStation division to Japan pretty realistic. Also this plays in with what Donald Trumps has announced: there will be an tax for gaming companies in America and an extra tax for foreign companies such as PlayStation up until to 40%, for operating on American soil.
This inlines with everything I have said. Sony will move the PlayStation division back to Japan. The expenses and upcoming changes by Trump are not viable anymore for Sony. And we know Totoki is a money guy. They will now focus on cost-effective regions such as Japan, Korea and China. For example see Astrobot. It was reported on the business update as a very successful game. In 9 weeks it sold 1.5m copies for a moderately budget. Also the Yen is weak and operating the PlayStation division in Japan will be much more profitable for Sony and easier to control. This is the future PlayStation needs. Sayonara California!
It’s crazy that this been such a clear vision since like 2020. Sony moving PS HQ to Cali did nothing but cause high damage & increased investment (imo unnecessary spending)
The fact the Yen is so weak which has felt like it’s been weak for 5+ years the lack investment for PS japanese studios is baffling for instance Poly is still a 1 team studio why isn’t there a open world arcade GT team that can create a more broader GT game that competes & take market share off games like Forza Horizon, Need for speed & Midnight Club such a miss opportunity.
And after the success of Astro Bot Team Asobi should easily become a 3+ multi team studio in the veins of a Insomniac but Japan & cranking out smaller scope AA games using the weak yen to make big profit & bring a younger audience to PS. Bring back Ape Escape, Gravity Rush, Wild Arms, Legend of Dragoon, Patapons, Parrapatherapper all of these franchise are great & can be tied to cross media, merchandise/toys & parks PS needs more creative colorful universes that can foster a younger audience/family into the PS platform & foremost invest in the PS ecosystem.
Should’ve bought a Japanese publisher w establish ip, cadence & history. Even look at Korea/China with many talent for mobile games or indy studio that make smaller AA games such digital eclipse & dotemu. Japan, Korea, China & India should be markets Sony/PS focus for growth & massive profits where these regions don’t necessarily like bigger AAA games where for the most part AA anime/artistic type games thrive those having smaller budget.
PS should be looking at annualizing many of there franchise by licensing PS ip to trusted partners just like Nintendo. Ratchet & Clank should be an annualized franchise just like Nintendo does w Mario & just like Sega does w Sonic. Bring back Sky Cooper, Jak & Daxter & Ape Escape all 4 of these franchise can easily be annualized & it’s a shame PS lack proper leadership & long term vision to view the landscape instead of looking at the PS business in such a short term outlook
