Keiichiro Toyama has announced (via Famitsu) his departure from Sony Japan Studio, and the formation of their new independent game developer – Bokeh Game Studio.
Toyama, the creator of the Silent Hill, Siren, and Gravity Rush series reportedly formed the studio back in August of this year – they’re making the announcement public just now.
While Toyama is the CEO of Bokeh Game Studio, he’s joined by Sato Kazunobu and Junya Okura, both of which also left Sony Japan Studio and are reuniting with Toyama at Bokeh as both COO and CTO, respectively. Bokeh is looking to develop video games for both consoles and Windows PC.
A word on the studio’s moniker, “Bokeh,” which is an English variation of the Japanese word “bo-ke,” which is a nod to the camera blur technique. Bokeh has become a popular photography technique worldwide, and as Toyama is a lover of photography, it’s natural his new studio is named after one of his passions.
Here’s a message from Toyama regarding his departure, and the new studio:
I left my longtime company Sony Interactive Entertainment, Inc. and established a new production studio with my own company.
Looking back on my inner life, nothing has changed since I entered the industry, and I want users to enjoy playing games based on original ideas. And I want to enjoy making these games myself. That’s all I want to do. Thanks to you, we have been able to release many titles. However, in recent years, the game entertainment industry has been growing at an accelerated pace on a global scale, and has been undergoing dramatic changes. In order to continue my passion for the industry, I felt that I needed to make a big change, which led me to the decision to go independent.
This time, I was blessed with like-minded friends and was able to start a new start as a production studio with the ability to bring my ideas to life. We have already started work on the first film, but we’re sorry that we still need more time to make it happen. We hope you will look forward to the day when the game goes on sale.
Representative Director, CEO and Creator Keiichiro Toyama
