Shuhei Yoshida Says Sony Japan Studio Closed As Its Games Didn’t ‘Drive Console Sales’

Ex-PlayStation indies boss Shuhei Yoshida has revealed during a talk at the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference that Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio shut its doors primarily as a result of its games failing to drive hardware sales.

Players from around the world have said that it’s unbelievable that Sony would shut down Japan Studio. Japan Studio released loads of games, creative games, didn’t it? At that time I was saying something similar.

At that time, as the head of development, I was worried about [Keiichiro] Toyama [creator of Silent Hill] and the other Japanese developers at Japan Studio. But while they came up with a lot of creative ideas, the games they made weren’t big in scale. What we call AA games are a perfect fit for the PlayStation Vita, but we were slowly shifting to AAA on the PS4 and PS5, and sometimes it’s difficult to scale up like that.

As a company, PlayStation wanted to drive hardware sales with games like God of War and Uncharted, because that’s the kind of game that’s in demand. It’s hard for Japan Studio to launch a new series on console.

Yoshida’s comments echo what he told AV Watch last year, when he revealed that the Japan team was shuttered as Sony wanted to shift away from AA games, something which the team were very good at but again, they weren’t enough to push sales of hardware. SCI Japan Studio was shuttered in 2021, with its last project being the Demon’s Souls remake with Bluepoint Games.

Over the years, the company had been responsible for a myriad of key titles for PlayStation, including Astro Bot, Shadow of the Colossus, Gravity Rush 2, White Knight Chronicles, Echochrome, Siren, Ape Escape, and The Legend of Dragoon among others.

Since leaving Sony, Yoshida has taken part in numerous interviews about a variety of topics. Back in April this year, the former PlayStation executive reportedly revealed that the he was fired from his position with SCI Worldwide Studios as he “didn’t listen” to then-CEO Jim Ryan. He also told Game File in April 2025 that he likely wasn’t considered for the role of PlayStation CEO as he bosses “didn’t trust me as [to] making the best business decisions.”

[Source – Computer Entertainment Developers Conference via GamesRadar]