Were both Nintendo and Sony right in doing this.

[RE4-City]

In 2021 Sony pretty much took as much talent from Japan Studios and put them to team asobi and let the rest go effectively killing off everything from Japan Studios besides astrobot.
Almost 5 years ago Alphadream filed for bankruptcy less than a year after Mario and Luigi Bowser's inside story remake released.
Nintendo opted to not buy them out and just let them shut down.

Now in 2024 both team asobi and nintendo are releasing a new astrobot and mario and luigi game (is the mario and luigi game being made in house?) And astrobot looks to be a big for Sony and Mario and Luigi is releasing off the hype following super mario rpg remake and the thousand year door remake.

DId Nintendo and Sony make the right call on these decisions?

 

[Yurinka]

Closing down Japan Studio was definitely a big mistake.

Shuting down Japan studio was a mistake

Sony didn't shut down Japan Studio.

Japan Studio had two parts, one for internal development and another one to support externally developed games they published via XDEV.

Their different internal development teams got merged into one of them, Team Asobi, who will soon release Astro Bot and are working on multiple prototypes.

Some of that people went to that XDEV Japan team, who got their own separate office -in the same building they were- and after that they released Death Stranding Director's Cut, Stellar Blade or Rise of the Ronin and are working on games like Convallaria, Lost Soul Aside, Death Stranding 2 or Physint.

Both teams have been growing since them and have plans to grow more.

Most talent who left Japan Studio with the restructuring or the years before have been working on games PS games like the FFVII Remake projects, Forspoken, Capcom stuff or upcoming games that will be available on PS like Slitterhead or Ratatan.

Ueda left 13 years ago, and at least since 8 years ago he has been working on his next game, which let's hope gets released soonish. Being a Kowloon/Epic game pretty likely will be on PS too.

So I'd say Sony did the right action, specially considering that with the restructuring they cancelled mobile games they were working on and focused on console games instead.

Regarding Nintendo, I think it's too early to know but I assume they had their reasons to stop working with them and not acquiring them.

 

[Nhomnhom]

If Sony couldn't salvage the rest of Japan Studios they should've be willing to invest a lot more in Japan to make up for that loss. They had ample opportunity for it and the audience was there but they keep taking all their audience for granted, they think PlayStation can just be blue Xbox and that they'll be fine.

Japan Studios had made many of Sony most iconic games and now they are gone and were not replaced by anything else.

 

[Hatefield]

If Sony couldn't salvage the rest of Japan Studios they should've be willing to invest a lot more in Japan to make up for that loss. They hand ample opportunity for it and the audience was there but they keep taking all their audience for granted, they think PlayStation can just be blue Xbox and that they'll be fine.

Japan Studios had made many of Sony most iconic games and now they are gone and were not replaced by anything else.

I kind of agree with this. Shuting down Japan studio was a mistake, regardless if most of the staff is in Asobi. Asobi is not Japan studios.

 

[RE4-City]

If Sony couldn't salvage the rest of Japan Studios they should've be willing to invest a lot more in Japan to make up for that loss. They hand ample opportunity for it and the audience was there but they keep taking all their audience for granted, they think PlayStation can just be blue Xbox and that they'll be fine.

Japan Studios had made many of Sony most iconic games and now they are gone and were not replaced by anything else.

I wish they would at least rerelease some games like tokyo jungle and puppeteer on PS5.
Maybe a sqaure purchase is in the cards but who knows

 

[Nhomnhom]

I kind of agree with this. Shuting down Japan studio was a mistake, regardless if most of the staff is in Asobi. Asobi is not Japan studios.

I just wonder where the next ICO, Shadow of the Colossus or Demon's Souls will be coming from. Doesn't seem like they'll be coming from Sony.

 

[RE4-City]

Japan Studio had two parts, one for internal development and another one to support externally developed games they published via XDEV.

Their different internal development teams got merged into one of them, Team Asobi, who will soon release Astro Bot and are working on multiple prototypes.

Some of that people went to that XDEV Japan team, who got their own separate office -in the same building they were- and after that they released Death Stranding Director's Cut, Stellar Blade or Rise of the Ronin and are working on games like Convallaria, Lost Soul Aside, Death Stranding 2 or Physint.

Both teams have been growing since them and have plans to grow more.

Most talent who left Japan Studio with the restructuring or the years before have been working on games PS games like the FFVII Remake projects, Forspoken, Capcom stuff or upcoming games that will be available on PS like Slitterhead or Ratatan.

Ueda left 13 years ago, and at least since 8 years ago he has been working on his next game, which let's hope gets released soonish. Being a Kowloon/Epic game pretty likely will be on PS too.

So I'd say Sony did the right action, specially considering that with the restructuring they cancelled mobile games they were working on and focused on console games instead.

Regarding Nintendo, I think it's too early to know but I assume they had their reasons to stop working with them and not acquiring them.

Im hopeful for mario and luigi. I got the first game on gba in the summer of 2004 when I was 10 and had a lot of fun with it. Also an unpopular opinion but i thought partners in time is the second best one. To be starting eitb bowsers inside story everything went down hill because of the holding the ds/3ds sideways like a book gimmick parts. I havent even played paper jam but i hate bowsers inside story and dream team. In a way the fact alpha dreams isnt making this might be a good thing but i am still sad they went out of business since the first mario and luigi game was awesome

 

[Nhomnhom]

I wish they would at least rerelease some games like tokyo jungle and puppeteer on PS5.
Maybe a sqaure purchase is in the cards but who knows

Maybe if they see an opportunity to port it to PC, then maybe PS5 could get a port as well.

It doesn't look like they'll by buying anyone at this point, I wouldn't hold my breath, they either gave up or just think they are fine as evident by how passive they are and how comfortable they are with removing things that used to make PlayStation unique.

 

[Hatefield]

I just wonder where the next ICO, Shadow of the Colossus or Demon's Souls will be coming from. Doesn't seem like they'll be coming from Sony.

Who else would make those? If you mean spiritual, sure, but Sony is making the sequels to those.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Who else would make those? If you mean spiritual, sure, but Sony is making the sequels to those.

None of those should't have sequels. You really didn't get the point. Those were huge games for the industry, some of the most influential games of all time, all made with the help of Japan Studios.

 

[RE4-City]

Maybe if they see an opportunity to port it to PC, then maybe PS5 could get a port as well.

It doesn't look like they'll by buying anyone at this point, I wouldn't hold my breath, they either gave up or just think they are fine as evident by how passive they are and how comfortable they are with removing things that used to make PlayStation unique.

RIght now very few companies are making purchases. The gaming industry is laying off records amount of people. I'm sure if sqaure hit a point low enough Sony might be interested in buying them but we will have to wait and see

 

[Zzero]

In 2021 Sony pretty much took as much talent from Japan Studios and put them to team asobi and let the rest go effectively killing off everything from Japan Studios besides astrobot.
Almost 5 years ago Alphadream filed for bankruptcy less than a year after Mario and Luigi Bowser's inside story remake released.
Nintendo opted to not buy them out and just let them shut down.

Now in 2024 both team asobi and nintendo are releasing a new astrobot and mario and luigi game (is the mario and luigi game being made in house?) And astrobot looks to be a big for Sony and Mario and Luigi is releasing off the hype following super mario rpg remake and the thousand year door remake.

DId Nintendo and Sony make the right call on these decisions?

Nintendo stopped revealing co-partners around the end of 2021, we have no idea who is making it but there's no way its being made entirely in house.

I think a lot of AD ended up at Arc System Works (or some other smaller JP company?, but I want to say ACS) so they might be the unnamed codeveloper.

That said, I think it might be a western team not previously involved in the series. I dunno, just looks western to me.

 

[Nhomnhom]

RIght now very few companies are making purchases. The gaming industry is laying off records amount of people. I'm sure if sqaure hit a point low enough Sony might be interested in buying them but we will have to wait and see

I'm not saying Sony should be making purchases right now, they should've made investments 10~5 years ago, with games taking so long to make their actions now would take almost a decade to turn into anything meaningful for PlayStation users.

At this point I think SE is better off on their own, Sony has terrible management, I wouldn't wish it on SE.

 

[Muddasar]

It wasn’t the right decision. What we have is the gutted remnants of Japan studio.

Only one team survived. Team Asobi. 2 if you include Polyphony digital which left after the success of Gran Turismo.

Team ICO is gone so no ICO, Last Guardian and Shadow of the Colossus type games. Ueda has a big part to play in that.

Project Siren or Team Gravity also gone so no horror games or Gravity Rush games.

This team comprised of ex Silent Hill developers.

 

[Nhomnhom]

It wasn’t the right decision. What we have is the gutted remnants of Japan studio.

Only one team survived. Team Asobi. 2 if you include Polyphony digital which left after the success of Gran Turismo.

Team ICO is gone so no ICO, Last Guardian and Shadow of the Colossus type games. Ueda has a big part to play in that.

Project Siren or Team Gravity also gone so no horror games or Gravity Rush games.

This team comprised of ex Silent Hill developers.

100%. One team being great doesn't excuse or make up for all that was lost.

Since you mention Silen Hill, instead of a game made by ex-Silent Hill devs we get an undesirable remake of Silent Hill 2.

 

[RE4-City]

It wasn’t the right decision. What we have is the gutted remnants of Japan studio.

Only one team survived. Team Asobi. 2 if you include Polyphony digital which left after the success of Gran Turismo.

Team ICO is gone so no ICO, Last Guardian and Shadow of the Colossus type games. Ueda has a big part to play in that.

Project Siren or Team Gravity also gone so no horror games or Gravity Rush games.

This team comprised of ex Silent Hill developers.

Whats your take on nintendo not buying alphadream tho. Do you think we are in a better place for it or not? I wonder if we might of gotten a paper mario 1 remake before a ttyd remake by now

 

[Hatefield]

None of those should't have sequels. You really didn't get the point. Those were huge games for the industry, some of the most influential games of all time, all made with the help of Japan Studios.

My bad. You worded if a way I thought you ment sequels. I am sure we will get these types of games again

 

[Nhomnhom]

My bad. You worded if a way I thought you ment sequels. I am sure we will get these types of games again

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Closing down Japan Studio was definitely a big mistake. But this was Jim Ryan's decision. If Hermen and Nishino have become much earlier CEO, this wouldn't have happened. But it is, what is sadly.

 

[Hatefield]

I know you do, you gloomy silly