Keiichiro Toyama Left SIE and Founded Bokeh Game Studio

Keiichiro Toyama revealed that he founded his own company named Bokeh Game Studio on August 13, 2020. He left Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Japan Studio at the end of September 2020. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

At his own Twitter account, Toyama expressed his strong desire to make the new studio one that will last long. He hopes fans will continue to support him as the studio works on its first title.

この度独立いたしまして、「Bokeh Game Studio（ボーカゲームスタジオ）」を設立いたしました。長く続けていきたいと強く思っておりますので、今後とも暖かい目で見守っていただけると幸いです！ https://t.co/HZNweiWWwd

— 外山圭一郎 (@K_Toyama) December 3, 2020

Toyama is not alone in establishing Bokeh Game Studio as its CEO. He is accompanied by producer Kazunobu Sato, who is the studio’s COO, and game director Junya Okura as its CTO. Sato was also known for designing characters in Siren and producing the 2016 PlayStation 4 game The Last Guardian, while Okura helped Toyama design both the Siren and Gravity Rush series.

The Japanese press release added that Bokeh Game Studio will focus on planning and developing software for consoles and PCs. Although the three core members had only worked on PlayStation platforms to date, they have expressed their aspirations to undertake “various kinds of challenges, regardless of the platform”.

[tnm_video layout=”mnmd-post-media-wide”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSkdD6S-YRE[/tnm_video]

Born in 1970, Keiichiro Toyama began his career in the gaming industry by joining Konami as a graphic designer in 1994. He had his first experience as a director when he created the first Silent Hill game in 1999. However, he left Konami soon after Silent Hill was released to join Sony Computer Entertainment.

With the latter’s Japan Studio, Toyama created Siren and Gravity Rush in 2003 and 2012, respectively. He also made sequels for both titles. His latest game to date, Gravity Rush 2, was released for PlayStation 4 in January 2017. SIE shut down the game’s online services in July 2018.