Former SIE Japan Executive Producer Masami Yamamoto announced on his personal Twitter account that he had established a new company named EPIGRAsm on March 31, 2021. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]
In the announcement tweet, which we have translated below, Yamamoto confirmed that he is still working to produce new games in his own company.
I’m sorry if this looks like a lie on April Fools, but yesterday on March 31, I established EPIGRAsm, Co., Ltd. I had already enjoyed living with things I like enough until now, so from here on I want to enjoy a conduct principle of ‘living with the person I like.’ I am still doing my best on a lot of things, such as producing games!
On March 15, 2021, Masami Yamamoto announced that he had left SIE Japan Studio at the end of February 2021. He began his career as a game producer with the 1998 PlayStation game Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. He was also known for working as the executive producer of Bloodborne, as well as creating Tokyo Jungle and the What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord? series.
With the establishment of EPIGRAsm, Masami Yamamoto followed in the footsteps of Keiichiro Toyama, the creator of Siren and Gravity Rush who founded Bokeh Game Studio after leaving SIE and is now working on a new horror game.
More Japanese SIE staff members, such as Bloodborne Senior Producer Kentaro Motomura and Gravity Rush Character Designer Shunsuke Saito also left the company. SIE’s JAPAN Studio was re-organized on April 1, 2021, leaving only Team ASOBI intact to develop the Astro Bot series.
