Polyphony Digital, noted for being the developer of Gran Turismo 5, will be transferring a third of its 150 employees to a new location in Fukuoka, which ends up 500 miles away from their main headquarters in Tokyo.

The 50 employees are being relocated, according to EDGE, because of the concerns over another big earthquake in the Tokyo region and the risks of additional problems with the nuclear crisis that happened after March’s tsunami.

Though Fukuoka is not a rookie to earthquakes, it is also considered to be “Japan’s second-youngest and second-fastest-growing city.” Many other developers, like Professor Layton’s Level-5, have already settled in and a bigger developer-friendly environment is starting to grow.

It’s actually a really smart move for them to start spreading their work teams across the nation. So if another disaster happens, the entire company does not have to deal with that big of an operational risk, since it would’ve only impacted a part instead of everyone.

Do you think more companies should start doing this in Japan?

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