Well, this was certainly unexpected: Japanese news outlets are reporting that Polyphony Digital will be moving 50 of the company’s 150 employees more than 500 miles away, from Tokyo to Fukuoka, Japan. Apparently, the trauma Tokyo suffered during the Japan’s major earthquake earlier this year has prompted the move (Fukuoka is located in the western end of Japan, which generally sees less seismic activity compared to other parts of the country).
Fukuoka is already home to many other game developers, and the city is actively pursuing more companies to relocate there.
News reports only describe the employees as “engineers”, so, as usual with Polyphony Digital, we can only speculate what they are responsible for. However, the company actually opened separate offices in Tokyo some time ago dedicated to developing and managing Gran Turismo 5’s online components. Considering this team already operates outside Polyphony’s main headquarters, they may be the ones to be relocated.
Thanks to all of you who sent this in!
See more articles on Fukuoka, Japan, Kazunori Yamauchi, and Polyphony Digital.
PD please do not disappoint with the DLC we need the good stuff
I’m a GT and PS3 fanboy but from what i’ve seen Forza 3 looks set to be a stunner.
They have all the hot cars too :(
cheaper and safer
Unlike prostitutes…….
@ lonewanderer I was jk
So this is possibly why ther were two seasonla updates so close together… gives us something to play with while they are off shifting boxes… the ol’ slight of hand huh.
Well done PD, and thanks for the continual support throughout everything still happening with you guys!
I’ve been there: loved the takoyaki ;)
Is that a fancy word for cat in Japanese?
No, I think takoyaki are octopus dumplings.
Yeah, octopus in batter (fried). Not sure about eating cats…maybe you’re thinking of China ;)
The caption at the top right corner says that they will move their development department to Fukuoka. It sounds like a new branch for a new project. What about the 100 folks left in Tokyo? Most likely, they’ll work on DLC, network maintenance and event updates…
We’ll see!
Good point. I wonder if the 50 that moved are working with some other people with a project.
These seem to be the lucky workers. Another earthquake has been reported in Japan (7.1 on richter scale apparently) in the same area with a Tsunami warning sent out.
When? There have been numerous smaller “aftershock” earthquakes in the week following the main one.
It was breaking news on the BBC News Channel. It probably is an aftershock of the big one but 7.1 is still a big quake (if the report was right of course).
Love the google image.
Will this mean the game will get some Western influence :)
lol… the inspirational energy of Italy, Germany, England etc are that much closer. If each employee models and programs one cool European car, we’ll have 50 cars to look forward to.
NEWS FLASH
50 PD engineers move to western Japan To start work on GT6.
Due out in 2024.
Speaking of 50 that’s how many cars will be in Forza 4.Take a hike you troll in 2024 Forza won’t exist.
We’ll be lucky if they finnish moving by 2024………..
DLC= 2011 Mustang, Koenigsegg Agera, Veyron SS, PORCHE, Pagani huayra, and IMO – If they can have All the tuner companies that are already in the game, im sure hennesy wouldnt hurt to be there
by the way, thats obviously not official, its just what i would like to see in it
3 words. Multiplayer Seasonal Events.
next DLC: 50 mile drag strip from Tokyo to Fukuoka
Considering it’s over 600 miles from Tokyo to Fukuoka your humor seems a bit misplaced.
d’oh, I thought I read 50 miles..
my miscalculation is a result from the lack of sense of speed and distance that GT5 has instilled in me
@ Lambob. no your sense of speed has been distorted from the numerous arcade racing games over the years. gran turismo has finally delivered the real thing and you dont know what the **ck your looking at. do you even drive a car.. (you know in the real world?)
^Somebody needs to chill.
@viejaloca. you mistake anger for passion. that’s the way i always talk so deal with it.
Ok, where’s the “sugar high fueled fanboy with no sense of humor resulting in pointless rabid post” deletion button?
i find that highly offensive considering i have diabetes.
Good
These little squabbles should really be resolved on the track?
I don’t remember so many infantile arguments on the forum before GT5 came out? I suppose in about 12 months all the douchebags will have lost interest in GT5 as their skill levels won’t be able to keep up with the quality necessary. Patient will win the race people, don’t rise to twats.
Hehe, you’ve got a short memory. This was going on for years before release. Back then, GT5 coming out was supposed to put an end to it. I don’t know why this particular article redlined in this fashion, but pretty soon it’s going to get a fresh start when people start screaming for GT6, after all these often unreasonable expectations of massive amounts of DLC and “fixes” are not met.
Thanks for the update Jordan!
And to the rest of you…wow…over 45 comments with virtually nothing of value. Almost makes you ashamed of being a member of this “community”
Amen sir! This comment section needs more moderation.
This is for lot of things i think:
For exemple: Electricity in Tokyo had restriction, and P-D had a big center.
Clim-machine dont work in office, and dont forget the watercooling for serveur.
My girl friend work under 30 degres at job now, and she dont use clim- machine at home
For safty i dont think so.
R1600! Long time no see!
Btw, Ppl stop trolling plz.
Ehhhhhhhhhhh, no.
Ok.hope they expand to bigger team after this.the area got lots of talent people..people usually got new perspective when they moved to new place..hope its affects to GT too..
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dreams come true…
What a great news… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Great news ?! Are you mad ?!
Great news = ” D L C “
f those japanese basterds give us some more prahistoric japanese crap cars and we will be happy…i wish i never bought gt5 and extra cost for driving force gt…
Thanks for point out how bad you are at integration, typing, spelling and being capable of choosing the right video game for yourself.
well go play with your little toy cars on the motorway and leave us in peace, dont like the game, tough coz most others do
ahhhh a microflop forza fan, get a real machine or take a hike
Is someone butthurt? Uh-oh! I had better call the waaaaaahmbulance then!
I wonder if other business sectors in Tokyo are also considering moves like this? I have a brother-in-law who works for a Japanese investment house in Tokyo and they have moved much of their operation to Hong Kong. It would seem that there is a safety/security concern for many Tokyo businesses, as you would expect.
The Aston Martin Zagato Race concept was seen at the Goodwood festival of Speed sporting Gran Turismo Livery….wonder if this will be made available in the planned DLC???
I thought this as well, but I think that it had that because it had come straight from the nurburgring 24hr, where all the cars have GT as a sponsor. We can keep hoping though.
I wonder if Arlo will be driving his saab turbo on it’s own this time around?
Ooohhlala, Fukuoka me gusta.
Lol safety first as always, delayed DLC or having PD get killed by the earthquake, as a result no more DLC?
Good move, they are humans like all of us and they need to feel safe if you want they really focus on their work.
Anyway I hope a DLC will be ready in time to challenge Forza Motorsport 4, and some others AI improvements (they are still too bland).
FM4 will put GT5 under ground!
Please let’s leave the fanboy-ism/trolling to the youtube community
Yah, cause people posting “Oh,Please let’s leave the fanboy-ism/trolling to the youtube community” has made such a huge difference in the past. No, wait, IT ONLY ENCOURAGES IT, nevermind. Facepalm.
Good to know they´re taking care of their safety, but we still look forward for a new update or hopefully a DLC.
You guys saying “safety first” “safety first” are too concerned about them.
Let´s stop all that hypocrisy.
Hope this also means a bit of an expansion of employee numbers, it better be… GT6 needs a lot of engineers to get a solid game IN time for the PS4 launch.
Think of safety first. Gaming comes next. But they might have planned ahead if GT5 updates before this.
Whats the city’s problem with oka? look at the name long enough and you’ll work it out ;)
haha funny funny. I really thought so.
I see what you did there. (:
i hope this doesn’t delay DLC
Lets hope not, the Universe revolves around you doesn’t it!
@ stjimmy. Surprise surprise!! Stjimmy is on his throne again, shaking his head disappointedly. stjimmy cares about people, not video games everyone! Hey bud, how long did your grief for earthquake victims last before you were back in front of your screen, pulling it to 30 second porn clips?
This guy seems to know quite a bit about porn clip lengths……
Disgruntled employees complained of not being able to save along the way. #podcatsshow
Tokyo is the most earthquake proof city in the world. Why move? Murphys law, when they get there, Godzilla starts causing problems again. I kid,I kid. Honestly, who says the moved because of trauma? I think those 50 are working on GT Vita. (Vita sounds so lame) and the other hundred are doing GT5 stuff. I think if an earthquake did hit down town Tokyo, Kaz thinks the sleeping bags under their tables is enough protection.
Fukuoka is a some kind of Silicon valley to Japan’s game developers. I guess they better tax policy there, better infrastructure and so on. They wouldn’t move if they didn’t have a very good reason because moving costs in Japan are very high.
Exactly this, I think the traffic infrastructure means that their engineers can actually go home at night, instead of sleeping in the office 5 nights a week because the traffic jams last for 4 hours. Happy employees are productive employees, and it would make more sense to move, with the possiblity of increasing their workforce at that site because of more floorspace being available.
Ha ha, poor disillusioned guy.
People working on GT5 =0
Yah, nobody. The updates we keep getting are pulled out of the 3rd etoraini plain by devine forces. It’s now officially out of the hands of the mere mortal beings of PD…….
Facepalm.
anyone think that the electricity consumption issue in Tokyo has anything to do with this?
I wouldnt think so because PD alone wouldnt make a difference in the countrie’s capital. Like all the lights that light up SSR5 and SSR7 and the Rainbow Bridge alone consume a lot nevermind all the buildings that can’t be relocated and its millions of residents.
Before someone kicks my ass over the net, the SSR5 and SSR7 are references to the Shuto Expressway and all other expressways in the capital.
@Felipe
Couldn’t care less, sorry.
oops forgot that i can press reply, do’h !
@RPM yeah thats true, some ppl doesnt think at all
haha yeah man.. Those kind of people doesn’t know how to get a life. lol
Yeah and those people doesn’t know how to grammars either
Good england for sure yes.
Wait… am we grammar bad?
Grammar fine young jedi’s is. Yoda see problem not.
Some people are just STUPID ENOUGH to think about “I hope this won’t cause the delay of the DLC” wtf? Come on.
I’m happy to hear that they are moving for their safety for the company’s benefit as well.
While others are stupid enough to think that everyone needs to move out of Tokyo now, or that a company, in the interest of safety, would only move its best 1/3 of employees! Lol.
There is a new burger coming out at McDonalds; I can’t wait to try it, however I am concerned for the cows safety. Safety first
@rayline Have you been drinking? That attempt at being funny doesn’t make any sense.
What did you say *hic* about my *hic* cow? I’d slug you in the *hic* face if there weren’t four of you spinning the room *burp*
lots of not funny here .. :(
@stjimmy. How much have you donated to the earthquake fund?? Right, nothing. I haven’t either…..But your obviously great. Just shut it, humor critic.
Yup, we don’t need a critic to tell us how retarded that was. Pretty obvious standing on it’s own merit.
According to a japanese news source, the engineers moved to Hukuoka were the members of the development department.
So the moved engineers are making GT Vita, I guess.
maybe now we can start working on getting ateast a hundred new mazdas in GT5
That would be nice,
Please put the 1st Gen RX7 and the 1986 to 1989 Mazda 323 4WD GTX Turbo :)
Interesting.
Shut Up Butters!
Screw you Cartman!
Mmmmmppphh #$@%^!
Kids stop screwing around umkay, cos screwing around is bayd umkay, so don’t screw around umkay.
0_o
YOU B**TARDS! You killed Kazzie!
What? What? What?
What about the children? Won’t somebody please think of the children?
Wait what am I doing here? this isn’t Springfield
…wrong cartoon … *logs off GT Planet*
Spam, spam, spam. *sigh*
Green eggs and ham. *fart*
I sure hope this doesn’t delay any DLC or updates that were planned.
I’m sure they planned ahead.
Don’t worry about DLC and all that, think of the workers and their safety first.
Safety first, not gaming
Yes smart move. Good to think ahead. You never know…. I here Tokyo is prone to earthquakes. These guys are on top if it. ( before any retards state the obvious, this is sarcasm).
Yep, the world revolves around you sunshine. You selfish man. Shame on you…
safety third.
I thought it said the truth!
Polyphony employees move to fuk u ova!
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Do will be updated added-b spec mode in training options?