One of Sony’s most promising franchises on PlayStation has seen better days, and now it looks like character designer Shunsuke Saito is calling it later days as news of his departure has been confirmed.
今日でソニー・インタラクティブエンタテインメントを退社しますー
I'm leaving SIE Japan Studio today pic.twitter.com/jwXrGYMwGp— 斎藤俊介(ShunsukeSaito) (@sshun3) March 31, 2021
The news of Saito’s departure follows on the heels of several employees who decided to move on to other projects after Sony revealed that Sony was planning on restructuring SIE Japan and shuttering the iconic Japan Studio, after almost three decades of development. The takeaway is that with these layoffs and departures, Asobi Team, who worked on Astro’s Playroom and Astro’s Rescue Mission, would be the lead team on developing new games.
Over the last several months Masami Yamamoto, Masaaki Yamagiwa, Keiichiro Toyama, Junya Okura, and Kazunobu Sato.
Kentaro Motmura, who has worked on Wild ARMs, Rogue Galaxy, Dark Cloud, Déraciné, and Demon’s Souls, has also announced he is leaving SIE Japan.
本日3月末日付けで長年お世話になりましたSIEを退職させて頂く運びとなりました。ダーククラウド、WILDARMS、ソルサク、Bloodborne、みんなのGOLF等々沢山の作品に携われた事は感謝しかありません！今後もゲーム制作は継続して行く所存ですので、引き続き宜しくお願い致します。有難うございました！
— 本村健太郎KentaroMotomura (@motomurakentaro) March 31, 2021
