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[nial]

Officially called by a generic 'External Development Department' name (as in, the department within Japan-based Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. dedicated to external production), they were established on April 1, 2020 within the WWS Japan Studio division as a part of a little restructuring effort, and then in April 2021, upon the large PlayStation Studios reorganization across SIE, they would drop the previous 'Japan Studio' branding and adopt the current 'XDEV' one. But most importantly, they would also start production on games not only in Japan, but also another parts of East Asia, including China and South Korea.

Another thing to consider is that there are three XDEV studios across the world, in the US, Liverpool and Tokyo, and while they all help with each other, they're still technically different studios. XDEV Japan is also the most productive out of the three (but as context matters, SIE has more internal workforce in the West, so they don't feel the need to invest that much in external producion outside of Asia).

So, what games have they produced/are they producing?

Rise of the Ronin (March 22, 2024, in collaboration with Koei Tecmo Games)

Stellar Blade (April 26, 2024, in collaboration with Shift Up)

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (June 26, 2025, in collaboration with Kojima Productions)

MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls (2026, in collaboration with Arc System Works)

Who are the people behind it?

Some of the key staff is:

• Arnaud Saint-Martin - studio head, has been since joining WWS Japan Studio in September 2020; previously worked at SIE-owned Audiokinetic Japan and MS' Havok Japan

• Edward Saito - producer on Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Death Stranding Director's Cut; previously worked on Demon's Souls (2020), Astro's Playroom and Everybody's Golf VR

• Kazuma Kizuka - producer on Stellar Blade and MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls; previously worked on Shadow of the Colossus (2018) and The Last Guardian, was also a producer on Demon's Souls (2020)

• Sayaka Utsunomiya - producer on Rise of the Ronin, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls

• Karina Fujii - producer on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach; previously worked at PlayStation Studios QA Japan.

• JunHo Lee - producer on Stellar Blade

• Laurie Jezequel - producer on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach; previously worked at Akatsuki and Idea Factory

• Reed Baird - producer on MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls; previously worked on the Japanese versions of The Last of Us Part II, Dreams Universe, Ratchet & Clank: The Game, etc.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

A team dedicated to money hatting 3rd party exclusives?

Yeah they suck. Most these games would be made without there interference.

 

[nial]

A team dedicated to money hatting 3rd party exclusives?

Yeah they suck. Most these games would be made without there interference.

It isn't. Almost 2021 + 4 and people still can't get the difference between paying for timed third-party exxclusives and directly funding, producing AND publishing the whole project.
Sony paid Square Enix to not release Rebirth on other platforms and that was it, while on the other hand, they had to actively manage the production of Rise of the Ronin and Srellar Blade.

 

[Connificent]

Reminds of Xdefiant which is trash

 

[W11d]

Yeah they suck. Most these games would be made without there interference.

especially Death Stranding

 

[adamsapple]

Pour one out for Japan Studios.

 

[LectureMaster]

So, what games have they produced/are they producing?

Those titles are what saved the first party drought this year for PS. Way more interesting than their hyper budget Western projects.

 

[roosnam1980]

great initiative by sony , cementing their position as a global leader and bringing great new games to the Playstation family from all corners of the globe.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

especially Death Stranding

You think a game as experimental as DS, i.e. a literal courier simulator, would have been made on a AAA budget without Sony?

You guys are delusional.

 

[Zacfoldor]

 

[Mr Hyde]

So far they've been doing stellar work and being a great support studio. I've yet to try Rise of the Ronin, which looks to be their best and most ambitious work today.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

They're easily one of SIE's best assets, bar none. But they're also mostly under-the-radar, and focus on BTS stuff.

So, the press usually don't cover them, and I suppose most gamers don't even know they exist or don't know how much a part of SIE they are.

Pour one out for Japan Studios.

You mean the Japan Studio that's mostly now Team Asobi and released the GOTY?

 

[Fbh]

One of the best parts of Sony at the moment.
Most of their first party output doesn't really appeal to me anymore, but these games they've been publishing with third party studios have mostly been great.

A team dedicated to money hatting 3rd party exclusives?

Yeah they suck. Most these games would be made without there interference.

I don't like third party timed exclusives but I think this is a bit more than that.
Sony is actually publishing these games and funding their development. The Stellar Blade devs have talked about how the game used to have a much smaller scope before Sony got involved with them, Last Soul aside started as a solo dev project that now has a team working on it thanks to the Sony funding, etc.
Kojima probably had more options but ultimately Sony still published the game, provided the engine and seemingly gave him a lot ot freedom which he might not have gotten everywhere.

 

[Danjin44]

Currently only thing I care about from Sony is Team Asobi.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Always interesting to learn more about some of the lesser known (for the general public) SIE studios so thanks for the informative post nial .

 

[W11d]

You think a game as experimental as DS, i.e. a literal courier simulator, would have been made on a AAA budget without Sony?

You guys are delusional.

It was sarcasm.

 

[nial]

They're easily one of SIE's best assets, bar none. But they're also mostly under-the-radar, and focus on BTS stuff.

So, the press usually don't cover them, and I suppose most gamers don't even know they exist or don't know how much a part of SIE they are.

Always interesting to learn more about some of the lesser known (for the general public) SIE studios so thanks for the informative post nial nial .

Thanks! I usually track a lot of these things, but trying to search about them in a very casual way and finding little actual information kinda prompted me make this thread.
So yeah, it's a 'know about these guys!' stealth thread, lol.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Currently only thing I care about from Sony is Team Asobi.

Unfortunately this is where I'm heading as well. I used to love basically all of the Sony studios but lately it's just not for me.

Bend Studio: Whatever really. Syphon Filter was cool and I'll give them a pass since we haven't really seen what they are working on.
Bluepoint Games: I think it's actually cool to have a remake/remaster studio, and again I'm curious.
Firesprite: ...
Guerilla Games: I LOVE Killzone, but Horizon is really mediocre to me and I'm sick of seeing it.
Haven: I don't like GAAS
Housemarque: I like the idea of the studio more than their games. I liked Rezogun but that's about it. I know people love Returnal
Insomniac: I liked Spyro, R&C, and especially Resistance. Spider-Man is cool but it appears they will just end up being a Marvel studio.
Media Molecule: Should have been closed down after Dreams.
Naughty Dog: I adore Uncharted, and I quite enjoy TLOU but the new game looks generic and I don't expect much.
Nixxes: Basically a PC port studio so who cares.
San Diego: Baseball. Something I only enjoy in person.
Santa Monica: It's just GoW, and I didn't like 2018 and didn't bother with Ragnarok.
Sucker Punch: This studio I do care about, and I've liked basically every game they have made.
Team Asobi: Love em so far, and I have high hopes. I just hope they don't becomes the Astro Bot studio.

That's basically 2 studios I really like, a couple I could care less about and the rest are meh.

I miss Japan Studio, Liverpool Studio, and Zipper.

 

[lh032]

A team dedicated to money hatting 3rd party exclusives?

Yeah they suck. Most these games would be made without there interference.

funding =/= secure 3rd party exclusive

Some of the games may not be come true if it wasn't the funding from Sony.

 

[EN250]

As long as they deliver, they're good in my book

 

[Perrott]

What do I think? That they might have GOTY contenders for two years in a row, with Death Stranding 2 next year and FromSoftware's next big thing in 2026.

 

[Punished Miku]

I really just can't tell what they actually do. When you hear about the Coalition helping other studios you pretty much know what they do. They were founded by ex-Epic staff. They're experts on just Unreal Engine, Xbox hardware, and optimization in just 1 engine.

When you hear about Nintendo producers helping other studios out you get to hear about it. Mercury Steam, Next Level Games, Retro before they got bought all describe in detail that the assistance is ideas, game design tips, extremely high standards and a willingness to redo things. They're not giving them tech optimization tips. Its game design tips, mostly from storied producers that have directed and produced famous works we know about.

What does XDEV actually do? I honestly don't think anyone here has any clue. Money? Game design tips? Tech optimization over completely different proprietary 3rd party engines? That last one seems especially unlikely.

 

[DarkstarRising13]

Xbox-turned-PC gamers like vaibhavpisal really, REALLY need to stop and think before jumping to conclusions. I don't know what the hell they're griping about "money-hatting" timed exclusives for the PlayStation 5. I remember not hearing A SINGLE complaint about this during the PS3 and PS4 days. In fact, this "money-hatting" they're criticizing is what allowed games like Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, and especially Lost Soul Aside to be made. I don't see anyone complaining about games like Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Stray being released for PS5 and PC only and not on Xbox. Heck, a third-party publisher like Capcom that releases games on PC (and even said they prioritize them - assuming this story is true) had no complaints about giving Sony marketing rights for their games and even went out of their way to create PS5 Pro patches for their games, along with developing VR-compatibility for Resident Evil games that are said to be superior compare to regular viewing.

How come these Xbox-turned-PC gamers are not criticizing their former $3 trillion sugar daddy that is Microsoft for not doing an Xbox Hero Project that Sony is doing for PlayStation in East Asian countries like China and Korea, and also the MENA and soon-to-be SEA Hero Projectss for North Africa and the Middle East and eventually Southeast Asia?

Oh, that's right... the $3 trillion dollar sugar daddy didn't give a rat's ass because gaming is at the bottom of their priorities. The sales collapse for the Xbox Series and Phil Spencer's ridiculous acquisitions of expensive publishers like Activision have now turned Microsoft Executives to Xbox. They are now zipping up the purse and demanding a return on investment.

 

[nial]

I really just can't tell what they actually do. When you hear about the Coalition helping other studios you pretty much know what they do. They were founded by ex-Epic staff. They're experts on just Unreal Engine, Xbox hardware, and optimization in just 1 engine.

When you hear about Nintendo producers helping other studios out you get to hear about it. Mercury Steam, Next Level Games, Retro before they got bought all describe in detail that the assistance is ideas, game design tips, extremely high standards and a willingness to redo things. They're not giving them tech optimization tips. Its game design tips, mostly from storied producers that have directed and produced famous works we know about.

What does XDEV actually do? I honestly don't think anyone here has any clue. Money? Game design tips? Tech optimization over completely different proprietary 3rd party engines? That last one seems especially unlikely.

Traditionally, they shouldn't be different from Nintendo producers. They may approach things their own way, but it's still just the act of producing.

The Coalition thing with Perfect Dark is completely different, I think. They're just straight up (co-)developers on that thing and the act of producing happens at XGS management.

 

[Punished Miku]

Traditionally, they shouldn't be different from Nintendo producers. They may approach things their own way, but it's still just the act of producing.

The Coalition thing with Perfect Dark is completely different, I think. They're just straight up (co-)developers on that thing and the act of producing happens at XGS management.

The Initiative are the codeveloper group, kind of like Mistwalker or something. Coalition is the Gears team but they lend Unreal Engine expertise to other studios like Undead Labs, and helped Epic with core Series S optimization for the whole engine for the Matrix demo.

 

[DarkstarRising13]

A team dedicated to money hatting 3rd party exclusives?

Yeah they suck. Most these games would be made without there interference.

Considering the rise in the cost of making such games like this and big publishers increasingly prioritizing safe investments, I'm glad Sony is investing in these projects. What? Do you think Nintendo, Microsoft, and even Valve will do the same? Think before you tap your fingers on the keyboard and making such a hypocritical statement.

I don't know about you but I'm VERY glad Lost Soul Aside - one of my top 2 anticipated games of 2025, the other being Crimson Desert - is not only being funded by Sony but also sticking with the development team, despite gamers criticizing the game over the years for being vaporware. God forbid that Microsoft was the one funding because they surely would have canceled the game after years of no progress and Lost Soul Aside being another Scalebound.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I have great affection for Japan Studio.

 

[Crayon]

Well today I learned. This xdev sounds pretty useful.

Stellar blade was fucking sick. So to whatever extent they helped with that, they know what they're doing

 

[nial]

The Initiative are the codeveloper group, kind of like Mistwalker or something. Coalition is the Gears team but they lend Unreal Engine expertise to other studios like Undead Labs, and helped Epic with core Series S optimization for the whole engine for the Matrix demo.

Ah yeah, mixed that up. =P
The Coalition should be like Guerrilla helping in the development of Death Stranding/DS2 (which used their Decima engine).
Not co-development or producing, but acting as a support studio, kinda like 1-Up Studio (Nintendo), or Bluepoint Games (SIE).

 

[bitbydeath]

XDev are fantastic, many confuse their games with that awful Japan Studio that got shutdown a few years back. Chances are if you liked a game that came from them last gen (or the gen before) it actually came from XDev.

 

[drganon]

A team dedicated to money hatting 3rd party exclusives?

Yeah they suck. Most these games would be made without there interference.

Someone sounds salty.

 

[adamsapple]

XDev are fantastic, many confuse their games with that awful Japan Studio that got shutdown a few years back. Chances are if you liked a game that came from them last gen (or the gen before) it actually came from XDev.

Yeah, that awful Japan Studio that co-developed that awfully popular game Bloodborne, among others.

 

[nial]

Yeah, that awful Japan Studio that co-developed that awfully popular game Bloodborne, among others.

I don't share his opinion, but that's exactly what he meant with this:

Chances are if you liked a game that came from them last gen (or the gen before) it actually came from XDev.

 

[bitbydeath]

Yeah, that awful Japan Studio that co-developed that awfully popular game Bloodborne, among others.

That was XDev.

 

[bitbydeath]

I don't share his opinion, but that's exactly what he meant with this:

Bloodborne - XDev
Tokyo Jungle - XDev
Ico / Shadow of the Colossus / Last Guardian - XDev
Everybody's Golf - XDev
Knack 1 & 2 - Sony Japan

 

[Perrott]

Bloodborne - XDev
Tokyo Jungle - XDev
Ico / Shadow of the Colossus / Last Guardian - XDev
Everybody's Golf - XDev
Knack 1 & 2 - Sony Japan

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were internally developed though, only The Last Guardian was co-developed with Ueda's own independent studio following his departure from Japan Studio in late 2011, and even then Japan Studio themselves provided most of the manpower that built that game for the PS4, with genDESIGN's imput being the creative direction.

 

[Astray]

Sounds to me like the restructure of Japan Studio into Asobi + Japan XDEV has been more of a success than not.

 

[near]

The projects seem safer and less interesting to me than what used to come out of Japan Studio before the restructuring. I don't see them producing games like What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord?, Tokyo Jungle or The Last Guy ever again.

 

[Cakeboxer]

If i get this right, it sounds like a mix of first, second and moneyhatted 3rd party. Good thing for games that wouldn't exist otherwise.

 

[Aenima]

A team dedicated to money hatting 3rd party exclusives?

Yeah they suck. Most these games would be made without there interference.

Stellar Blade would be a much smaller game in scope if not for XDEV and Sony. So dont know how a sudio can suck when they activelly making better games.

 

[adamsapple]

Bloodborne - XDev
Tokyo Jungle - XDev
Ico / Shadow of the Colossus / Last Guardian - XDev
Everybody's Golf - XDev
Knack 1 & 2 - Sony Japan

Bloodborne - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Co-produced and supervised by Japan Studio.


--

Tokyo Jungle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Tokyo Jungle[a] is a survival action game developed by Crispy's! and Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3.


--

The Last Guardian - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Last Guardian[a] is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and GenDesign and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4.


--


Everybody's Golf

JAPANスタジオ作品一覧 1998年～1994年

ソニー・インタラクティブエンタテインメント(SIE)のゲーム制作部門 JAPANスタジオを紹介しているPlayStationオフィシャルサイトです。

web.archive.org

--

Knack (video game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Knack[a] is a beat 'em up platform game developed by Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4
nack[a] is a beat 'em up platform game developed by Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4

 

[Aenima]

What does XDEV actually do? I honestly don't think anyone here has any clue. Money? Game design tips? Tech optimization over completely different proprietary 3rd party engines? That last one seems especially unlikely.

https://playstation-studios.fandom.com/wiki/XDev

 

[Woopah]

Traditionally, they shouldn't be different from Nintendo producers. They may approach things their own way, but it's still just the act of producing.

The Coalition thing with Perfect Dark is completely different, I think. They're just straight up (co-)developers on that thing and the act of producing happens at XGS management.

Exactly. What XDEV does is basically the same as what Nintendo EPD 1, 2 and 7 do.

If i get this right, it sounds like a mix of first, second and moneyhatted 3rd party. Good thing for games that wouldn't exist otherwise.

All the games in the OP are published by Sony and therefore first party.

 

[simpatico]

It isn't. Almost 2021 + 4 and people still can't get the difference between paying for timed third-party exxclusives and directly funding, producing AND publishing the whole project.
Sony paid Square Enix to not release Rebirth on other platforms and that was it, while on the other hand, they had to actively manage the production of Rise of the Ronin and Srellar Blade.

I'm thinking you're confused by the "producing" aspect. Traditionally, the "producer" role in entertainment jobs isn't doing the work. He's writing checks and talking on the phone.

You think Sony employees are doing in-the-weeds coding on these games?

By your understanding on what XDEV does, who needs From Soft? Just let XDEV make Bloodborne 2. Let us know how it works out.

 

[Unknown?]

Unfortunately this is where I'm heading as well. I used to love basically all of the Sony studios but lately it's just not for me.

Bend Studio: Whatever really. Syphon Filter was cool and I'll give them a pass since we haven't really seen what they are working on.
Bluepoint Games: I think it's actually cool to have a remake/remaster studio, and again I'm curious.
Firesprite: ...
Guerilla Games: I LOVE Killzone, but Horizon is really mediocre to me and I'm sick of seeing it.
Haven: I don't like GAAS
Housemarque: I like the idea of the studio more than their games. I liked Rezogun but that's about it. I know people love Returnal
Insomniac: I liked Spyro, R&C, and especially Resistance. Spider-Man is cool but it appears they will just end up being a Marvel studio.
Media Molecule: Should have been closed down after Dreams.
Naughty Dog: I adore Uncharted, and I quite enjoy TLOU but the new game looks generic and I don't expect much.
Nixxes: Basically a PC port studio so who cares.
San Diego: Baseball. Something I only enjoy in person.
Santa Monica: It's just GoW, and I didn't like 2018 and didn't bother with Ragnarok.
Sucker Punch: This studio I do care about, and I've liked basically every game they have made.
Team Asobi: Love em so far, and I have high hopes. I just hope they don't becomes the Astro Bot studio.

That's basically 2 studios I really like, a couple I could care less about and the rest are meh.

I miss Japan Studio, Liverpool Studio, and Zipper.

Firesprite is almost Liverpool. Many of the people at Liverpool moved onto Firesprite after closure.

I'm thinking you're confused by the "producing" aspect. Traditionally, the "producer" role in entertainment jobs isn't doing the work. He's writing checks and talking on the phone.

You think Sony employees are doing in-the-weeds coding on these games?

By your understanding on what XDEV does, who needs From Soft? Just let XDEV make Bloodborne 2. Let us know how it works out.

UUhUhhh try letting these studios do this on their own with out funding or technical consultation and see if they can still make what they do.

 

[Banjo64]

 

[simpatico]

UUhUhhh try letting these studios do this on their own with out funding or technical consultation and see if they can still make what they do.

Are you familiar with a game called Elden Ring? Somehow, against all odds, From was able to squeak it out without help from XDEV. Glory be to God I suppose...

 

[Unknown?]

Are you familiar with a game called Elden Ring? Somehow, against all odds, From was able to squeak it out without help from XDEV. Glory be to God I suppose...

Sure but they would have had less total games released before Elden Ring, they used what they learned from experience with those other games to help make Elden Ring even better, Elden Ring may not even exist or be completely different if Sony hadn't helped kick them off with Demons Souls. No one is saying they'd be completely incompetent without them, come on now!

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

So it's the new Japan Studio

 

[simpatico]

Sure but they would have had less total games released before Elden Ring, they used what they learned from experience with those other games to help make Elden Ring even better, Elden Ring may not even exist or be completely different if Sony hadn't helped kick them off with Demons Souls. No one is saying they'd be completely incompetent without them, come on now!

Sony tried their hardest to bury Demon's Souls. From had to go out of their way to get a US release for it from Atlus. XDEV is a money hatting operation that does not fill the Japan Studio shaped hole in the hearts of gamers. Believing that these people are crafting games and staying up late to write lines of important code is pure fan fiction. They make phone calls and send emails. Nobody at XDEV has the chops to code a new Ape Escape. It's just business people wearing a Sony Japan skin suit.