Another Japan Studio staff member is leaving the developer for pastures new. Today, Shunsuke Saito announced his departure from the steadily shrinking team.

Saito is best known for his work on the Gravity Rush series, serving as character designer and animator on both games and as art director on Gravity Rush 2. He will have been instrumental in the design of Kat, the franchise's protagonist and a fan favourite PlayStation character.

This follows the exit of many other key people from the developer. It's all down to Sony's decision to overhaul Japan Studio, essentially downsizing operations and placing Astro Bot devs Team ASOBI front and centre starting tomorrow, 1st April. As editor Sammy Barker noted, the changes are disappointing, but not surprising given the studio's output in recent years.

We wish all the best to Shunsuke Saito (and all Japan Studio alumni) in their future endeavours.

[source twitter.com]