
Earlier today Teruyuki Toriyama announced via his Twitter that he will be leaving Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios Japan at the end of the month. Toriyama has worked as producer on several high profile Playstation games including Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Bloodborne, Demon’s Souls Remake, and Soul Sacrifice.
Toriyama is not leaving the games industry however, in his announcement he states that he will continue to create new game IPs at his yet-unannounced new company.
This news comes as part of a loss of several high-profile employees at SIE WWS Japan following reports that Sony is shutting down their Japanese studios and shifting all game development focus to the western branch of SIE. Sony has denied these reports however, Teruyuki Toriyama is the latest in a trend of developers leaving the company this month. At the beginning of December Silent Hill and Gravity Rush creator Keiichiro Toyama, and his teammates Kazunobu Sato, Junya Okura, left SIE WWS Japan recently founded Bokeh Game Studio.