The Japan Studio branding began with 2006's Genji: Days of the Blade on PS3, but they've existed since PlayStation's 1993 inception as a key developer within Sony Computer Entertainment, in a unique role. JS consisted of internal teams such as Team ICO (ICO, Shadow of the Colossus) and Team Gravity (Siren, Gravity Rush), but an equal part of their portfolio came from external partnerships like FromSoftware (Demon's Souls, Bloodborne) and many golf titles with Clap Hanz. Other IP include Ape Escape, Knack & Patapon.
Japan Studio's split portfolio is best seen with its PS5 launch games. While Demon's Souls was in collaboration with Bluepoint, the free pack-in Astro's Playroom was created internally by Team Asobi. Both were successful, but Sony didn't renew JS contracts outside of Asobi because their original AA games weren't considered profitable enough to continue.
Instead, JS re-centered around Asobi to build on Astro's popularity in April 2021 - effectively closing JS. Sony would continue with AAA titles, while also diving into live-service. This left AA and indie titles to independent creators, third-party publishers, and XDev partnerships.
To be fair to Sony, it made sense focusing on Asobi. Astro's Playroom showcased potential that was realized with 2024's award-winning Astro Bot - eclipsing any game from other JS teams in 10+ years. Sony also has XDev for partnerships. But these points don't negate Sony's short-sighted dismissiveness of AA titles, where JS would be a tremendous attribute for PS5 right now.
Outside of Helldivers 2, Sony's live-strategy has failed. Most second-party games are cancelled, newly acquired studios have delayed games, and many old studios like Bend have wasted this generation on GaaS. This has caused Sony's first-party output to become sporadic since 2022, resulting in the prestige of PS Studios taking a significant hit.
JS's AA games don't sell millions with a 90+ Metacritic, but the smaller scope means many would ship, thus allowing Sony to still have consistent releases. With so few AAA titles currently, there's also an opening for the hardcore base to evangelize the AA scene more than they would've pre-2023. Astro Bot's success demonstrates this perfectly.
Fortunately, many ex-JS staff formed new studios to continue making games together, like Team Gravity's Slitterhead as Bokeh Game Studio, or Patapon staff's spiritual sequel Ratatan. Bandai Namco also licensed Everybody's Golf, Freedom Wars & Patapon from Sony to release sequels/remakes. Between these games and Asobi, Japan Studio's legacy lives on.
