Japan Studio

Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio
Formerly	SCE Japan Studio (1993 - 2016)
Type	Subsidiary (1993 - 2021)
Parent company	Sony Interactive Entertainment (1993 - 2005) SIE Worldwide Studios (2005 - 2021)
Foundation	November 1993
Defunct	April 1, 2021 (27 years)
Successor	Team Asobi GenDesign Bokeh Game Studio EPIGRAsm
Founders	Ken Kutaragi
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Nicolas Doucet (last president; 2018 - 2021)
Notable products	Ape Escape The Legend of Dragoon Ico Shadow of the Colossus Siren Gravity Rush Puppeteer Knack The Last Guardian Astro Bot
Number of employees	200 (2017)

SIE Japan Studio was a Japanese game developer located in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1993 as one of the earliest game development studios under Sony Interactive Entertainment, and operated under the SIE Worldwide Studios banner. As of 2017, the studio comprised of at least 200 employees.

SIE Japan Studio served as a collaborator or overseer of game projects commissioned to external developers, and has developed to all gaming platforms released by parent company Sony. It is responsible for several collaborations with third-party developers like Clap Handz, Acquire, FromSoftware, Level-5, Arc Entertainment, Media.Vision, NanaOn-Sha and Bluepoint Games, which produced titles such as the Everybody's Golf franchise, Demon's Souls, Dark Cloud and Dark Chronicle, the Arc the Lad series, Bloodborne, the Alundara series, PaRappa the Rapper and Soul Sacrifice.

SIE Japan operated in several teams. The studio used to house Team Ico (2001 - 2011), a small division formerly headed by Fumito Ueda which developed the critically acclaimed Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian, and Team Gravity (1998 - 2020), which developed the Siren and Gravity Rush franchises; at the time of its disbandment, housed ASOBI Team, which develops games related to Astro Bot and became its successor. Internally, SIE Japan developed several titles through uncategorized or unnamed teams, most notably the Ape Escape series of platform games. Other games under its resume include the 1999 role-playing game The Legend of Dragoon, the LocoRoco and Knack franchises and 2013's Puppeteer.

On February 25 2021, Sony announced that Japan Studio will be reconstructed, centralizing game development around Team Asobi and effectively disbanding the studio. On April 1, the reconstruction was completed, with Team Asobi gaining autonomy and the rest of the studio either let go, transferred to Asobi or absorbed into SIE.

Games developed

In-house productions

• Jumping Flash (1995) - PlayStation Developed by in-house team Exact(Sugar & Rockets), co-development with Ultra

• Jumping Flash 2 (1996) - PlayStation Developed by in-house team Exact(Sugar & Rockets), co-development with MuuMuu

• PopoloCrois (1996) - PlayStation Developed by in-house team Exact(Sugar & Rockets), co-development with G-Artists

• Eigo no Tetsujin: Center Shiken Trial (1996) - PlayStation

• Ghost in the Shell (1997) - PlayStation

• Ape Escape (1999) - PlayStation

• The Legend of Dragoon (1999) - PlayStation

• Fantavision (2000) - PlayStation 2

• Ico (2001) - PlayStation 2 Developed by in-house Team ICO

• Ape Escape 2 (2002) - PlayStation 2

• Ape Escape 3 (2005) - PlayStation 2

• Shadow of the Colossus (2005) - PlayStation 2 Developed by in-house Team ICO
  • Shadow of the Colossus (2018) - PlayStation 4 (developed with Bluepoint Games)

• Locoroco (2006) - PlayStation Portable

• LocoRoco Cocoreccho! (2007) - PlayStation 3

• Locoroco 2 (2008) - PlayStation Portable

• Locoroco Midnight Carnival (2009) - PlayStation Portable

• Gravity Rush (2012) - PlayStation Vita Developed by in-house Team Siren/Gravity
  • Gravity Rush Remastered (2015) - PlayStation 4 (co-developed with Bluepoint Games)

• Puppeteer (2013) - PlayStation 4

• Knack (2013) - PlayStation 4

• The Playroom (2013) - PlayStation 4
  • The Playtoom VR (2016) - PlayStation 4 (PlayStation VR) Developed by in-house Team ASOBI

• The Last Guardian (2016) - PlayStation 4 (co-developed with genDESIGN)

• Gravity Rush 2 (2017) - PlayStation 4 Developed by in-house Team Siren/Gravity

• Knack II (2017) - PlayStation 4

• Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018) - PlayStation 4 (PlayStation VR) Developed by in-house Team ASOBI

• Astro's Playroom (2020) - PlayStation 5 Developed by in-house Team ASOBI

Collaboration

• Wild Arms (1996) - PlayStation (developed with Media.Vision)

• Wild Arms 2 (1999) - PlayStation (developed with Media.Vision)

• Dark Cloud (2001) - PlayStation 2 (developed with Level-5)

• Wild Arms 3 (2002) - PlayStation 2 (developed with Media.Vision)

• Wild Arms 4 (2005) - PlayStation 2 (developed with Media.Vision)

• Wild Arms 5 (2006) - PlayStation 2 (developed with Media.Vision)

• Rogue Galaxy (2005) - PlayStation 2 (developed with Level-5)

• Wild Arms XF (2007) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Media.Vision)

• Mainichi Issho (2007) - PlayStation 3 (developed with Bexide and Game Arts)

• Toy Home (2007) - PlayStation 3 (developed with Game Republic)

• Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 (2007) - PlayStation 3 (developed with Millennium Kitchen)

• Patapon (2007) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Pyramid)
  • Patapon Remastered (2017) - PlayStation 4

• Folklore (2007) - PlayStation 3 (developed with Game Republic and Gaia)

• What Did I Do to Deserve This My Lord? (2007) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Acquire)

• Coded Soul: Uketsugareshi Idea (2008) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Gaia)

• What Did I Do to Deserve This My Lord? 2 (2008) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Acquire)
• White Knight Chronicles (2008) - PlayStation 3 (developed with Level-5)

• Patapon 2 (2008) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Pyramid)
  • Patapon 2 Remastered (2020) - PlayStation 4

• Demon's Souls (2009) - PlayStation 3 (developed with FromSoftware)
  • Demon's Souls (2020) - PlayStation 5 (developed with Bluepoint Games)

• Patchwork Heroes (2010) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Acquire)

• No Heroes Allowed! (2010) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Acquire)

• White Knight Chronicles II (2010) - PlayStation 3 (developed with Level-5)

• White Knight Chronicles: Origins (2011) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Level-5)

• Tokyo Jungle (2012) - PlayStation 3 (developed with Crispy's!)

• Patapon 3 (2011) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Pyramid)

• No Heroes Allowed!: No Puzzles Either! (2013) - PlayStation Portable (developed with Acquire)

• Rain (2013) - PlayStation 3 (developed with Acquire)

• Bloodborne (2015) - PlayStation 4 (developed with FromSoftware)

• No Heroes Allowed! VR (2017) - PlayStation 4(PlayStation VR) (developed with Acquire)

• Déraciné (2018) - PlayStation 4(PlayStation VR) (developed with FromSoftware)