Former PlayStation Studios president Shuhei Yoshida has explained why Sony's Japan Studio was dissolved in 2021, saying the team struggled to keep pace as the company pushed for larger-scale titles capable of "driving hardware sales". Speaking at the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference, he said the studio's staff excelled at creative, AA-sized projects suited to handheld systems such as the PSP and PS Vita, but found it far harder to scale up to AAA console games for the PS4 and PS5, unlike hits such as God of War or Uncharted.

Yoshida noted that Gravity Rush creator Keiichiro Toyama had pitched numerous ideas that never received approval before Japan Studio's closure. He pointed to a silver lining, however: several former staff have since gone independent, allowing their work to reach a wider audience across multiple platforms. Toyama founded Bokeh Game Studio, creator of Slitterhead, while Patapon designer Hiroyuki Kotani has made the spiritual successor Ratatan, both now playable by PlayStation users despite the studio's demise.