When Keiichiro Toyama, Kazunobu Sato, and Junya Okura announced Bokeh Game Studio last year, heads turned immediately in their direction. Here were three veterans of PlayStation Japan, responsible for developing Silent Hill, Siren, The Last Guardian, and Gravity Rush, to name but a few projects spearheaded by the trio, striding out on their own as newfound independent creators.
Bokeh Game Studio is preceded by its reputation. You don’t get the creative director of Silent Hill, producer of The Last Guardian, and game director of Siren founding a new studio without questions and speculation immediately swirling. One obvious question lay outside the studio itself: why had all three experienced developers decided in unison to depart Sony Japan?
“We were conscious about being independent at the beginning of last year, which is actually before COVID,” explains Bokeh Game Studio co-founder Junya Okura. There were “organisational changes” within Sony says Okura – PlayStation’s Japan Studio was effectively wound down earlier this year – and this coupled with Toyama approaching Sato and Okura with the idea of going independent practically sealed the deal for the trio. However, Toyama is swift to mention it “wasn’t just a sudden move,” for the group. The Silent Hill creator was thinking about going independent ever since The Last Guardian director Fumito Ueda departed Sony to establish Gen Design in 2014, so Bokeh Game Studio is a move that’s been just over six years in the making for Toyama.
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