Polyphony Digital shipping a third of its employees out of Tokyo

by Jordan Mallory on Jul 9th 2011 12:30PM

Gran Turismo 5 developer Polyphony Digital is transferring 50 of it's 150 employees to a new location in Fukuoka, over 500 miles away from their main HQ in Tokyo. According to EDGE, the partial relocation has been prompted by mounting concerns over another devastating earthquake in the Tokyo region, as well as the Fukushima nuclear crisis that followed last March's tsunami.

Fukuoka, while no stranger to earthquakes itself, is Japan's second-youngest and second-fastest-growing city, according to 2000 census information. The city is positioning itself as a developer-friendly environment, counting Professor Layton developers Level-5 among its denizens. Polyphony Digital's arrival bodes well for the district, as it may encourage other developers to reduce operational risk by spreading their teams across the nation.

Source: EDGE

Tags: earthquake, Fukuoka, Gran-Turismo-5, japan, Level-5, Polyphony, polyphony-digital, relocation

Reader Comments (15)

Now it will take them 9 years to make a game instead of 6

@Ellimem

You gotta hand it to Sony though for actually allowing PD to take their sweet time...

@Ellimem
I prefer a well done game even if it takes 6+ years instead of a wannabe racing sim.
And I prefer having it all in ONE disc.

@Shadowbender

Yea, kinda. Knowing the whole time that regardless of quality it would be a multimillion seller helped.

@Enriqeu

Get the hell outta here with that troll crap.

Two studios 500 miles away?

Can't really see the benefit. Put them all under one roof so they all know what's going on.

@skyzbig

"...as it may encourage other developers to reduce operational risk by spreading their teams across the nation. "

Not sure how you missed that.

@skyzbig
Uh, have you WORKED with software development on a professional setting? It really doesn't matter where programmers work. They could be on the same office or the other side of the world, they can still get coordinated just as well.

@PointlessPuppies

I have. Let me check... yup you're wrong.

@skyzbig
If they're all under one roof, and that roof collapses, they're all gone.

Hijacking this post briefly to say that I made the mistake of visiting Mr. Mallory's soundcloud, and now I can't stop listening.

Lyrically brilliant shit, sir.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Joystiq.