Ranking Every PlayStation Developer From Worst To Best (2020)

Recent Release: Everybody's Golf VR

Past Highlights: Ape Escape, LocoRoco, Astro Bot Rescue Misson

In Development: Astro's Playroom

Sony's first in-house studio, a highly productive and fruitful hub for PlayStation products, if also a little inconsistent... and quite complex. In comparison, most first-party devs on this list are thriving islands in the Sony sea, but Japan Studio is a dense and intricate continent within itself.

They emerged in 1999 with peak PS1 titles, Ape Escape and Legend Of Dragoon. The majority of championed works since have been collaborations with other parties (e.g. Bloodborne with From Software), or made in-house by studios within Japan Studio, namely Team Siren (Gravity Rush) and the now-defunct Team Ico (Shadow Of The Colossus).

So what of the game their solely responsible for? That is a flavorful if mixed bag, not helped by a stagnant period throughout the PS2 years that prioritized odd niche Japanese games. A regime change in 2012 re-focused, but initially, only resulted in a few hidden gems (e.g. Puppeteer, Tokyo Jungle, Rain).

Also, a recent attempt at creating a Triple-A mascot franchise with Knack crashed and burned. However, the mandate was still achieved, quite surprisingly, with the PSVR. 2018's Astro Bot Rescue Mission gave us one of the best 3D platformers since Mario Galaxy... in VR!

So, while the backlog is varied, the highs are iconic and outshine the forgettable, with their present future more focused and brighter than ever...