The mastermind of the highly-acclaimed Silent Hill and Gravity Rush franchise, Keiichiro Toyama, recently announced his resignation from Sony Computer Entertainment Japan in order to begin his own studio, Bokeh Game Studio.
The studio already has an established team at the moment consisting of many former PlayStation developers, even including Kazunobu Sato who is known for Siren and The Last Guardian. Many fans were understandably disheartened by the news of Toyama’s departure, especially since they were hoping that he was working on a new Silent Hill game that would be exclusively available on the PlayStation 5.
However, it may be best for fans of the horror genre to refrain from being too disappointed, as Toyama has announced that his next project will mark his return to the hair-raising genre. Toyama’s departure from SIE Japan Studio may have only been announced this month, but Bokeh Game Studio was actually already established way back in August.
His leaving definitely marked an end of an era though, as he worked in Japan Studio for 20 years of his life, creating incredible titles such as Siren and Gravity Rush. Toyama initially started working at Konami in 1994, which marked the beginning of his career in the games industry. At that time, he helped develop games such as Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher.
Toyama was able to climb up the ladder though, and would later direct the very first Silent Hill game to have ever been developed and become Team Silent’s leader. He left Konami shortly after that though to join SIE Japan Studio, which is where the Siren franchise was developed.
Years pass and Toyama eventually departs from SIE Japan Studio, but not before releasing the classic Gravity Rush series for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4. In a recent interview with IGN, Toyama reveals that the first game to be released by Bokeh Game Studio will be “an action-adventure game that will appeal to fans of my previous work.”
As for the game’s theme, he confirms that it would be a “horror-oriented game.” However, he doesn’t want it to be a “hardcore horror” experience, as he wants it to provide broader entertainment to its players and perhaps introduce more variety.
Toyama also confirms that for now, Bokeh Game Studio is focusing on developing and releasing the mystery game for PC. Although, the studio plans to “release the game on as many console platforms as possible.” While the upcoming title is far from done — it’s supposedly still in prototype development right now — Toyama expects that it will be ready for release by 2023.
The interview also reveals that Toyama made the decision to leave SIE Japan Studio after his 50th birthday this year as a result of working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic. He was incredibly inspired by studio genDESIGN founded by Fumito Ueda, who is the director of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.
Toyama says that after Ueda told him his experiences, it inspired him to follow in Ueda’s footsteps and estabish his own studio.
While it doesn’t seem like Bokeh Game Studio will be launching its own game soon, with 2023 being a long way away, fans of Toyama’s work are already looking forward to his next horror project. Fortunately, the developer has promised that teasers will be released as time goes by.
